William Wilkinson (born April 22, 1947) is a retired Canadian

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 hock ...

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. He coached the

Wayne State Warriors men's ice hockey The Wayne State Warriors men's ice hockey team competed in NCAA's Division I in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference representing Wayne State University. The university dropped their men's program at the end of the 2007–08 season. Progr ...

program for its entire 9-year existence at the Division I level. Prior to that, Wilkinson coach the

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan, Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region a ...

for seventeen seasons.

Career

Wilkinson played for

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

for three years, leading the team in scoring as a sophomore and serving as the

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in his senior season. After graduating in 1970 Wilkinson taught high school for a year before returning to Canton as an assistant coach for his alma mater. Wilkinson served as an assistant for St. Lawrence for seven years, leaving to accept a similar position at

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

for one season. He spent a further three seasons as an assistant at

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under

Jerry York Jerry York (born July 25, 1945) is an American former ice hockey coach who was the men's ice hockey coach at Boston College. York is the winningest coach in NCAA hockey, and leads the all-time list as the only Division I head coach with over 1,0 ...

before getting his first head coaching job at

. After a poor showing in his first year the Broncos produced their first 20+ win season at the D-I level, earning Wilkinson the CCHA Coach of the Year. Two years later Wilkinson got the Broncos to surprising 32-win season, the program's only 30-win season (as of 2018), won the CCHA Tournament and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time. The team declined to a mediocre level for much of the next seven years before finally returning to the NCAA tournament in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. The Broncos made another trip to the playoffs two years later but remained winless in NCAA postseason play under Wilkinson. During the 1998–99 season two of Wilkinson's players were arrested at a team party in a building that Wilkinson owned. An internal investigation was started and the entire team was subsequently suspended for violations of NCAA regulations. Wilkinson was eventually fired as head coach on February 3 but allowed to remain at the university as a special assistant to the AD. Once the season was over Wilkinson formally left and later took over as head coach for the newly-created program at Wayne State. The Warriors played as an independent for one season before joining the CHA. Wayne State produced a modest record their first season in conference but won both of their games in the CHA Tournament to earn Wilkinson his second conference championship. The Warriors followed that up by winning 20 games the next year, winning the CHA regular season title and claiming their second consecutive championship. With all of that team success Wilkinson was awarded with the CHA Coach of the Year. In 2003, with the NCAA tournament expanding to 16 teams, the CHA was to receive its first automatic bid and the two-time champions didn't disappoint, winning 20 games once more and claiming their third consecutive tournament championship. In the tournament Wayne State was set against the #2 overall seed

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

and, despite a valiant effort, could not overcome three power play goals from the Tigers. After their three year run the Warriors declined sharply and never produced another winning record. In 2007 the university announced it was shuttering the men's team, citing a $500K annual operating cost coupled with no on-campus rink and a troubled economy. Wilkinson continued to coach after Wayne State shut down, spending three seasons with CH Jaca and then a six-month stint with the

Melbourne Mustangs The Melbourne Mustangs (formally ''Mustangs IHC'') is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Melbourne, Victoria. Formed in 2010, the Mustangs have been a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) since 2011. The Mustangs a ...

before retiring.

Career statistics

Head Coaching Record

† Wilkinson was fired in the midst of an internal investigation into team activities.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Bill 1947 births Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Ontario Living people People from Huron County, Ontario St. Lawrence Saints men's ice hockey players Wayne State Warriors men's ice hockey coaches Western Michigan Broncos ice hockey coaches

Career

Career statistics

Head Coaching Record

See also

References

External links