Gabe Giardina is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Charleston Southern Buccaneers. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Alabama and had previously coached there, at Delta State and at Albany State.

Early life and education

Giardina attended State College Area High School in Pennsylvania for a year, then Penns Valley Area High School for two years, before spending one year at DuPont High School in West Virginia and one at

The Kiski School , motto_translation = Guide Us Lord , address = 1888 Brett Lane , town = Saltsburg , state = Pennsylvania , zipcode = 15681-8951 , country = Uni ...

. He enrolled at the University of Alabama in 2000 and was a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music * ''Walk On'', a 1994 album by Boston, and its title song Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album), 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album), 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album), 1992 *''Walk On'', a 2007 album by ...

member of their football team, playing

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

and holder. He was named Academic All- Southeastern Conference (SEC) as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 2003 and appeared in nine games. ESPN commentator

Chris Fowler Chris Fowler (born ) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN, who serves as the play-by-play announcer for '' Saturday Night Football'' on ABC and ESPN’s tennis coverage. He is also known for his work on '' College GameDay'', which he h ...

described Giardina as "Alabama's answer to Rudy."

Coaching career

Giardina began a coaching career in 2004 after graduating from Alabama, working as a student coach for free. He was promoted to graduate assistant in 2005. He served through 2007 in that position under coaches Mike Shula and Nick Saban. Giardina began serving as running backs coach and special teams coach at

Charleston Southern Charleston Southern University (CSU) is a private Baptist university in North Charleston, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention ( Southern Baptist Convention). History Charleston Southern University was ch ...

in 2008, where he served through 2011. In 2012, Giardina served as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

and wide receivers coach at Delta State. The following year, he returned to Charleston Southern as offensive coordinator. In four seasons, Giardina helped the school win 36 games, one conference championship and reach the playoffs twice. Giardina was named the head coach at Albany State, an NCAA Division II program, in 2017. In his first season as head coach, he led them to a 6–4 record, including a win in the Fountain City Classic. They improved to 7–4 in 2018, including a perfect 6–0 conference record, before eventually losing the SIAC championship to

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

. Albany State again went 7–4 in Giardina's third year, before again going down to Miles in the championship. After not playing in 2020, Albany State won ten games in 2021, including the conference championship, reaching the playoffs where they lost to

West Georgia The University of West Georgia is a public university in Carrollton, Georgia. The university offers a satellite campus in Newnan, Georgia, select classes at its Douglasville Center, and off-campus Museum Studies classes at the Atlanta History ...

. After a 7–3 record in 2022, Giardina left Albany State to be named head coach at Charleston Southern. He finished his five-season stint at Albany State with an overall record of 37–17.

Personal life

Giardina is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, and said upon being named Charleston Southern head coach, "It's got to be more than just a football foundation. Here at Charleston Southern, we get to put in a spiritual foundation unashamedly. Here, we're going to have The Lord out front of this thing. We're going to immerse this thing in prayer. That's the most important thing, to see where God is going to take this."

Head coaching record

References

External links

Albany State profile

Charleston Southern profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giardina, Gabe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American football placekickers Albany State Golden Rams football coaches Alabama Crimson Tide football coaches Alabama Crimson Tide football players Charleston Southern Buccaneers football coaches Delta State Statesmen football coaches Sportspeople from Kanawha County, West Virginia People from State College, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania State College Area High School alumni