Al Bagnoli - Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2026
Al Bagnoli arrived at Columbia in February 2015 with a track record that was already hard to match and he spent the next eight seasons building one of the strongest stretches of football the program has seen in the Ivy League era.
Across eight seasons at Columbia, Bagnoli led the Lions to 35 wins, the most victories in program history over an eight-year span. Columbia produced winning seasons in four of the past five years the Lions competed, a run that changed expectations around the program and helped reintroduce Columbia football to the Ivy League title conversation.
The high point came in 2017, when Columbia went 8-2 overall and 5-2 in Ivy League play, finishing second in the conference. It was Columbia’s best season since 1996, and the Lions stayed in the championship chase into the final moments of the season. That year also included a start of six straight wins for the first time since 1996 and a seven-game win streak, the program’s longest since 1935. The turnaround was one of the best in the Football Championship Subdivision, a five-win improvement from the previous season. Bagnoli’s work earned national recognition, including Coach of the Year finalist honors and multiple regional and league coaching awards.
Bagnoli’s Columbia teams were defined by depth and development. He coached 69 All-Ivy League selections with the Lions, including 20 first-team honorees. In 2021, quarterback Joe Green was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year as Columbia posted a 7-3 record. That fall, the Lions set a program record with 13 All-Ivy League honorees. In 2022, Columbia finished 6-4 and closed with a three-game winning streak. The Lions won at Harvard for the first time since 1995, rallying in the fourth quarter for a 21-20 victory, and ended the season with another win over Cornell.
Recruiting helped set the foundation. Bagnoli and his staff signed three nationally ranked top-25 recruiting classes in 2016, 2017 and 2018, bringing talent and competition to a roster that was coming off two winless seasons before his arrival. The results showed quickly. Columbia won five games in both 2015 and 2016, signaling a program moving in the right direction.
His career record as a head coach stands among the best in NCAA history, including 274 wins and one of the top winning percentages in FCS history.
Bagnoli’s place in the sport is also reflected in the recognition he has received from the institutions he served. He is a member of the Hall of Fame at Penn and the Hall of Fame at Union College.
