Bill Gilligan (born August 5, 1954) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He is also a former professional ice hockey winger who played in 128

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

regular season games with the

Cincinnati Stingers The Cincinnati Stingers were an ice hockey team based in Cincinnati that played in the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979 and in the Central Hockey League during the 1979–80 season. Their home arena was Riverfront Coliseum. They are t ...

between 1977 and 1979 before moving to Europe.

Playing career

In addition to the WHA Stingers, Bill Gilligan played for Brown University (

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Hampton Gulls The Hampton Gulls were a minor league professional ice hockey team based in Hampton, Virginia, from 1974 to 1978 at the Hampton Coliseum. The Gulls played three seasons in the Southern Hockey League, beginning in 1974. When that league folded in ...

( AHL), Vienna EV and Klagenfurt AC in Austria and

EHC Chur EHC Chur Capricorns (formerly EHC Chur Sport AG) is a Swiss ice hockey team based in Chur, Switzerland who played until 2008 in National League B. They currently compete in the third tiered MySports League. Honors * National League B Champion ...

in Switzerland. He was also a member of Team USA in the 1978 and 1983

Ice Hockey World Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

tournaments.

Coaching career

He first became coach in 1984 in Klagenfurt, Austria, where he won 4 Championships in a row right away. From season 1988/89 to season 1991/1992 Gilligan was head coach of Swiss ice hockey team

SC Bern Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the mos ...

. He won 3 NLA Championships and was one time runners up in 4 years.Der Name Bill Gilligan lässt aufhorchen
Tagesanzeiger, 2009-03-12. He later was head coach of the Swiss U-20 national ice hockey team and together with John Sletvoll also of the Swiss national team. From 1994 - 1998, Gilligan was

Sports Director The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director {{Job-stub ...

of SC Bern and then returned to the US to work as assistant coach for the hockey team of

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

, the

Massachusetts Minutemen The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...

and as a scout for

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

team

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. For season 2005/06 he came back to Switzerland as head coach for NLA team

Rapperswil-Jona Lakers The SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are a professional ice hockey club from Rapperswil, Switzerland and are members of the National League. History The Lakers were founded in 1945 and were known as SC Rapperswil-Jona until 2005, when the club changed ...

. He is also the team's head coach for 2006/07 season. In 2008 was named as Head Coach from

Graz 99ers The Moser Medical Graz 99ers are an Austrian professional ice hockey team from Graz, Styria. The club was founded in 1999 after the previous club, EHC Graz, folded prior to the 1998–99 season due to financial difficulties. The Graz99ers started ...

, in the 2009/2010 season Graz won the playoff qualification for the first time. Gilligan additionally coached the Austria national team in 2008-2011. In 2014, Gilligan was named Associate Coach of Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Awards and honors

Playing

Coaching

* 1985 - Austrian Champion with Klagenfurt AC * 1986 - Austrian Champion with Klagenfurt AC * 1987 - Austrian Champion with Klagenfurt AC * 1988 - Austrian Champion with Klagenfurt AC * 1989 - NLA Champion with

* 1991 - NLA Champion with SC Bern * 1992 - NLA Champion with SC Bern

References

External links

*
Bill Gilligan on hockeyfans.ch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilligan, Bill 1954 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans American ice hockey coaches American men's ice hockey right wingers Cincinnati Stingers players Hampton Gulls (AHL) players Ice hockey coaches from Massachusetts Los Angeles Kings scouts Sportspeople from Beverly, Massachusetts Ice hockey people from Essex County, Massachusetts SC Bern coaches Ice hockey players from Massachusetts