Head Coach Bill Wilkinson

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Assistant Coaches Willie Mitchell Marc Fakler (volunteer)

Bill Wilkinson embarks on his 19th season as a collegiate coach as he begins his second year at Wayne State University (WSU) after being appointed in March, 1999. In his first year as head coach for the Warriors, Wilkinson led Wayne State to a 6-23-1 record under the program’s inaugural year. Prior to last season, Wilkinson was the head coach at Western Michigan University (WMU) for 17 years.

In his illustrious career, Wilkinson had been named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) “Coach of the Year” three times (1983-84, 1985-86, 1995-96) and was twice a finalist for national coach of the year honors. Entering the 1999-2000 season, he ranks 37th all-time and 11th among active collegiate coaches in career wins.

While at Western Michigan, Wilkinson’s team reached postseason play 14 of the last 15 years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament on three occasions (1986, 1994, 1996). His 1985-86 squad, arguably the best in Western’s history, captured the CCHA playoff title while his 1995-96 team finished one point out of first place in the CCHA regular season race. Four different years, his teams finished in the top 12 nationally in the NCAA Coaches poll. Other coaching highlights include winning the Great Lakes Invitational in 1986, the Riverfront Invitational in 1987 and the 1995 Syracuse Invitational.

With the aid of his assistant coaches, Wilkinson, 53, has recruited and developed some very talented players. Twice at Western Michigan, two of his players (Dan Dorion in 1986 and Wayne Gagne in 1987) had been named runners-up for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, college hockey’s Heisman Trophy, while eight former players have reached the NHL. In addition, five players had been named All-American a total of seven times and 21 players earned 30 All-CCHA certificates. On the academic side, WMU was the only CCHA school to have an all-league academic honoree 14 consecutive years. During that time, 26 players achieved 49 scholarstic honors. Six Academic All-Americans have also played under Wilkinson.

As chairman of the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Committee, Wilkinson has worked the last three NCAA finals.

Prior to being named WMU’s third head coach on March 29, 1982, Wilkinson served as an assistant coach at Bowling Green State University from 1980-82, coaching defensive play. In 1979, he was an assistant at the University of North Dakota, a season in which the Sioux came within a goal of winning the NCAA title.

Wilkinson began his coaching career where his playing days ended, at St. Lawrence University, a school that has produced numerous bench bosses. A two-way player at center and defense, Wilkinson led the 1967-68 Saints squad in scoring (15-21—36). He also was named team MVP and was awarded the Brian P. Doyle Memorial Trophy as team captain in 1969-70. He graduated from St. Lawrence with a bachelor’s degree in physical education (1970) and later added a master’s degree in education (1976) from the same school.

Bill and his wife, Mary, have three sons – Peter, 28, a former WMU player embarking on his third season as assistant coach at Michigan Tech; Mark, 22, a senior on the WMU hockey team; and Bryan, 18, a Senior at on the Portage Central hockey team.