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BURLINGTON, Vt. – The career of Mike Gilligan was honored at his official retirement dinner on Sunday night at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center. Gilligan spent 30 years at the University of Vermont as the head coach of men's hockey and golf and as an assistant coach for women's hockey. The night was introduced by associate vice president & director of athletics Dr. Robert Corran, and former head men's basketball coach Tom Brennan served as the emcee.
 
The event also featured speeches and presentations from a number of Gilligan's family members, close friends, collegues, and former players: Norwich head coach Mike McShane, Mike's brother Bob Gilligan, local friend Rich Tarrant, former player and past president of UVM Alumni Association Ted Madden '92, former player and past chair of the UVM Board of Trustees Ian Boyce '89, former player and UVM all-time leading scorer Martin St. Louis '97, former player and assistant coach Joe Gervais '88, and former St. Lawrence head coach and longtime friend Joe Marsh.

Gilligan compiled 279 wins in 19 seasons behind the bench for the UVM men's hockey program from 1984-2003 and finished just one shy of the all-time record at UVM. He ranked sixth among active NCAA coaches in career wins upon his retirement at the end of the 2002-03 season and 17^th all-time in career wins. Gilligan also served as the head coach of the UVM golf team for 11 years and joined the women's hockey coaching staff in 2006, spending seven seasons as an assistant for the Catamounts.
 
The Beverly, Mass. native was a standout defenseman at Salem State University and captained the Vikings for two years (1968-70). He was named an All-American those same two seasons, becoming the school's first player to earn the honor. Gilligan later served as the head coach at his alma mater for six seasons, compiling a 128-48-2 record. His .727 winning percentage represented the second-best Division II mark in ECAC history, second only to his Vermont predecessor Jim Cross. He was inducted into Salem State's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.
 
Gilligan also spent two years as an assistant men's hockey coach under Tim Taylor at Yale and one year (1983-84) as the program's interim head coach. Later in his career, he served as an assistant for the U.S. Women's National Team for two and a half years. He was with the U.S. Women's National Team that captured the gold medal at the 2005 IIHF Women's World Championship, and was also on the bench during the U.S. Women's Olympic Team's bronze medal run at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.