Vermont Coach retires

[CU at Stanford]

According to the breaking news on USCHO.com, Vermont's Mike Giligan is stepping down as the university has named a new president and a new Athletic Director.  But, is it me, or does the picture shown on the website looks like a mug shot?  ::screwy::

[KeithK]

Don't worry Catamount fans.  The good Mr. Gilligan will still be bringing his coaching talents to the golf team...



Post Edited (05-16-03 13:46)

[rhovorka]

Ahhhh!!!  My taunts of "lame duck coach!" at him proved to be prophetic.  It only took 8 years.  :-)

I'd like to think that he was given no choice in the matter.  i.e. "OK, Mike...we'll give you a chance to step down with dignity.  We'll even give you a cushy job."  But there's no way to prove that.

I still can't believe he survived "the incident."

[Greg Berge]

It wasn't so much "The Incident" that should have sunk him.  It was that he, at the least, obfuscated the facts after it.

Anyway, although L'il Buddy was never exactly a charmer when it came to dealing with Schafer, he was evidently well liked in the hockey community, so hey... happy trails.

Hopefully his successor can bring UVM back.  The ECAC needs all the strong traditional programs it can get, especially with SLU, Clarkson, Vermont, Colgate, and RPI all having looked pretty skanky last year.

[Richard Stott]

I agree.  They should be one of the ECAC's strong teams.  Like New Hampshire they have a whole state rooting for them or at least they did.  The huge crowd for the 1996 ECAC consolation game at Lake Placid between Vermont and Clarkson suggests the potential for their program.

[Greenberg \'97]

Richard Stott wrote:

I agree.  They should be one of the ECAC's strong teams.  Like New Hampshire they have a whole state rooting for them or at least they did.  The huge crowd for the 1996 ECAC consolation game at Lake Placid between Vermont and Clarkson suggests the potential for their program.

Wasn't that huge crowd mostly Cornell folks chanting things like "It just doesn't matter!"

[jtwcornell91]

Vermont definitely had the lion's share of fans that weekend.

[Greg Berge]

When UVM reached the Gahden in consecutive years in 88 and 89, they had a great crowd.  In one of those years they easily outnumbered the fans of the other three semifinalists combined.  I'm tempted to say it was 89 -- the year they knocked off eventual national champion Harvard in the SF -- but they were an upset QF winner that year, which probably means it was 88.



Post Edited (05-18-03 20:50)