Dec 5, 2015 4 min read

Following an outstanding athletic career at Avella High School and Wittenberg University in the 1950s and early 1960s, Gary Tranquill found success for many years in the coaching ranks.

As a sophomore at Avella, Tranquill helped lead the Eagles to a share of WPIAL championship in what was then called Class B.

“We played the championship at Trinity and the game ended 7-7,” Tranquill recalled.

As a quarterback from 1958-61 at Wittenberg, located in Springfield, Ohio, Tranquill was named the best player in the conference and made the Little All-America squad.

After his playing career ended, Tranquill started what was a rewarding and lengthy coaching career when he was hired as an assistant at Wittenberg, where he stayed for eight years before making the leap to major college football as the coach of the defensive backs at Ball State University in 1970.

Tranquill never stayed in one place for very long, which is often the case in the coaching profession. After one season at Ball State, he became the defensive coordinator for two years at Bowling Green, then spent stints as an assistant at the Naval Academy, Ohio State and West Virginia, the latter from 1979 to 1981.

Tranquill returned to Navy as head coach of the Midshipmen in 1982.

One of Tranquill’s many thrills in football was coaching in the Army-Navy game.

“Before I became head coach at Navy, I was an assistant coach (1973-76) under one of the best coaches, George Welsh,” Tranquill said. “We put it to Army. They scored six points in those three years.”

As a head coach, Tranquill’s Navy squads were 3-2 against Army.

“The game with Army was always special. Back then, there were times we had to wait a couple of weeks – sometimes three weeks – after everybody else was done playing before we would play Army. It was tough to get ready after not playing for so long, but its Army-Navy and everybody is watching.”

One of Tranquill’s fondest memories from the Army-Navy rivalry was the 1983 game, which was played in Pasadena, Calif., at the Rose Bowl. It is the only time the series was played west of the Mississippi River.

“One of the airlines donated several planes and flew 500 cadets and 500 midshipmen to Pasadena for the game,” Tranquill recalled. “I’ll never forget … everything went our way. We had a 21-0 lead with 12 minutes gone in the first quarter.”

Navy went on to win that game, 42-13.

Now for a bad memory.

“In my last season at Navy, we lost to Army and I got fired. Not because we lost to Army, but I never could beat Air Force,” laughed Tranquill.

Tranquill also got a taste of another heated college football rivalry, Ohio State-Michigan.

“I was with Woody Hayes during his final two years,” Tranquill pointed out. “I was there when he punched the kid from Clemson. I wasn’t there on the sidelines. I was in the press box as the team’s secondary coach”

When Hayes left Ohio State, the entire coaching staff was fired. That’s when Tranquill headed to Morgantown, W.Va.

“Frank Cignetti was there as head coach and I was hired to be the team’s defensive coordinator. Well, Frank got fired. Don Nehlen became the head coach and I was switched to offensive coordinator.

“My job was pretty easy. I had a good offense led by one of the best quarterbacks in the country, Oliver Luck. … We beat a good Florida team in the Peach Bowl.”

Tranquill’s coaching career would eventually take him to Virginia (twice), Virginia Tech, Michigan State, North Carolina and Boston College, the Cleveland Browns (1991-93) and the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe.

Tranquill had the opportunity to see a lot of great players. Who does he consider the best?

“I coached in the Japan Bowl in 1986. Bo Jackson played in that game. No doubt, Bo Jackson was the best I’ve seen.”

There are a number of great memories for Tranquill.

“My short time with Woody Hayes was great,” he said. “He could snap at you in a second. That was Coach. He loved to play and beat Michigan. He always called Michigan ‘the school up north.'”

Tranquill’s résumé includes working with some of the big names in coaching, including Welsh, Hayes, Frank Beamer, Nick Saban and Bill Belichick.

Yes, Bill Belichick.

“I worked with him in Cleveland. I was the quarterback coach and had a good one in Bernie Kosar,” he said.

Tranquill was inducted into the Wittenberg University Athletics Hall of Honor in 1986 and the Washington-Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of fame in 1993.

Bill DiFabio writes a column on local sports history for the Observer-Reporter.