He was a throwback to the days when football players didn’t wear facemasks..

Whenever you played a Bob Brennan-coached football team, regardless of the outcome, you knew you were going to be nursing plenty of bruises the next day.

A strict disciplinarian and exceptional teacher, Brennan worked tirelessly to transform youngsters into men. He showed them the value of hard work, preparation and digging deep within themselves to overachieve.

He taught them life lessons, not just how to run a guard trap or a sweep.

Brennan, the former John Bapst High School football and baseball coach, died on Thursday at his home in Old Town after a brief illness. He was 77.

As intense and as fierce a competitor as he was on the field, he was equally kind and compassionate off the field.

He cared deeply about his family and friends. He had an Irish wit and a genuine sincerity.

“He was an awfully nice guy. We had a lot of fun together,” said former Hampden Academy football coach Don Veneziano.

But, on the field, it was all business.

“You always knew the kids Bob put on the field would be ready. He didn’t have awfully big teams in terms of numbers or size, but they were hard players who would pound the heck out of you. A lot of that can be attributed to the way Bob coached. He was a tough coach and a tough guy and his players really respected him,” said Veneziano.

“The one thing Bob did, that no other coach did, was he had his kids hitting in practice the day before a game,” added Veneziano.

Most teams have light workouts, without pads, on the day before a game.

Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln athletic director Dale Curry, the former football coach at Mattanawcook, said Brennan’s teams were “tenacious on every play.

“His teams never let up,” added Curry.

Brennan had coached the freshman football team at John Bapst beginning in 1962 and eventually became the varsity football and baseball coach in 1970.

In his 11 seasons guiding the Bapst football team, the Crusaders compiled an 81-41 record, including a 9-0 mark and a state championship in 1976.

He returned to coaching at Dexter High School in 1991-92 and his two Tiger teams went a respectable 8-10 at a time when the town was experiencing a budget crisis.

He later became an assistant at Brewer High School and went on to coach eighth-grade football teams in Old Town for five years until his health forced him to retire this past fall.

Brennan was a World War II veteran and worked for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad for 26 years before attending the University of Maine and graduating with honors (in education) in 1971. He became a teacher and athletic director at John Bapst in addition to his coaching jobs.

Husson College football coach and former Bangor High coach Gabby Price once said, “Bob’s a tremendous football man. We don’t have enough people in the game who care for the kids and love football the way Bob does.”

Curry said, “Bob could have retired when he left Bapst. But he kept coming back to help some more kids.”

Typical Bob Brennan.