Bill Wilkinson, the 2001-02 College Hockey America Coach of the Year, completed his ninth year at Wayne State University and his 26th season as a collegiate head coach in 2007-08. Wilkinson was appointed to the head coaching duties at WSU in March, 1999.

He became the 23rd coach in NCAA hockey history with 400 wins as WSU posted a 3-2 victory at Robert Morris on Nov. 12, 2004. Wilkinson coached his 900th career game on January 20, 2006.

In the program's final season in 2007-08, Wilkinson guided the WSU men's hockey team to an 11-win campaign which included a 4-0 victory over Alabama-Huntsville in the semifinals of the College Hockey America tournament, snapping WSU's four-game postseason losing streak and achieving its first ever shutout victory in CHA tournament play.

After winning just six games in 2005-06, Wayne State doubled that total the following season with a 12-21-2 record, including an 8-10-2 mark in conference play. The team went into the CHA Tournament with a seven-game unbeaten streak, which ultimately ended with a 4-3 overtime loss to Alabama-Huntsville, the eventual tournament winner, in the quarterfinal.

In 2002-03, Wayne State won its third consecutive CHA tournament title and made the school's first appearance in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I hockey tournament.

In his second season at WSU, Wilkinson made believers out of the doubters by leading the Warriors to their first conference title in the initial season WSU was eligible for post-season play. Under Wilkinson's leadership, the Warriors defeated Niagara 3-2 (OT) in a CHA semifinal game, then defeated host Alabama-Huntsville, 4-1, in its own arena for the CHA Championship title.

The following year, the Wilkinson-led Warriors claimed both the CHA regular-season and conference tournament titles.

Prior to Wayne State, Wilkinson was the head coach at Western Michigan University (WMU) for 17 years.

In his illustrious career, Wilkinson has been named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Coach of the Year three times (1983-84, 1985-86, 1995-96) and was a finalist for the Spencer Penrose national coach of the year honor three different seasons. Wilkinson concluded his six-year term on the NCAA Men's Hockey Championship Selection Committee in 2001, serving as chairman his final year.

While at Western Michigan, Wilkinson's teams reached post-season play 14 of his last 15 full seasons 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 (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1987 and the 1995 Syracuse Invitational.

With the aid of his assistant coaches, Wilkinson, 60, has recruited and developed some very talented players. Two Western Michigan Broncos (Dan Dorion in 1986 and Wayne Gagne in 1987) finished second in the Hobey Baker Memorial Award balloting, while 10 former players have reached the National Hockey League. In addition, five players had been named All-American a total of seven times and 21 players earned 30 All-CCHA accolades. 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 scholastic honors. Six Academic All-Americans have also played for Wilkinson. Off the ice, Wilkinson's Bronco squad was active in the community as well working with abused children and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

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 1979-82, coaching defensive play. In 1978-79, 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.

A native of Goderich, Ontario, Wilkinson and his wife, Mary, have three sons -- Peter, 35, a former WMU player; Mark, 29, a WSU Law School graduate who earned his bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University, where he received the school's "Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year" award and played collegiate hockey; and Bryan, 25, a graduate from the University of Michigan.

Bill Wilkinson's Year-By-Year Head Coaching Record
at Western Michigan University (17 seasons)
	Overall					CCHA
Year	GP	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Finish
1982-83	36	11	23	2	.333	10	20	2	.344	T-9th
1983-84	42	22	18	2	.548	13	14	1	.482	5th
1984-85	40	22	16	2	.575	18	13	1	.578	3rd
1985-86	44	32	12	0	.727	23	9	0	.719	T-2nd+#
1986-87	43	23	20	0	.535	16	16	0	.500	5th
1987-88	42	22	17	3	.560	17	12	3	.578	4th
1988-89	43	14	23	6	.395	9	17	6	.375	6th
1989-90	40	14	24	2	.375	12	18	2	.406	T-5th
1990-91	42	22	17	3	.560	16	14	2	.531	4th
1991-92	36	16	14	6	.528	14	12	6	.531	4th
1992-93	38	20	16	2	.553	17	11	2	.600	5th
1993-94	40	24	13	3	.638	18	10	2	.633	4th#
1994-95	40	17	18	5	.488	9	14	4	.407	T-6th
1995-96	41	27	11	3	.695	21	6	3	.750	T-3rd#
1996-97	37	14	18	5	.446	10	12	5	.463	T-5th
1997-98	38	10	25	3	.303	9	19	2	.333	9th
1998-99	25	3	16	6	.240	2	13	6	.238	-
WMU	667	313	301	53	.509	234	230	47	.504	3 NCAA Bids
at Wayne State University (9 seasons)
	Overall					CHA
Year	GP	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Finish
1999-00*	30	12	16	2	.433	-	-	-	-	-
2000-01	35	18	14	3	.557	8	9	3	.475	3rd+
2001-02	36	21	11	4	.639	15	2	3	.825	1st+
2002-03	40	21	17	2	.550	11	7	2	.600	3rd+#
2003-04	36	9	24	3	.292	4	15	1	.225	6th
2004-05	35	14	17	4	.457	7	9	4	.450	4th
2005-06	35	6	23	6	.257	3	12	5	.275	6th
2006-07	35	12	21	2	.371	8	10	2	.450	4th
2007-08	38	11	25	2	.316	6	14	0	.300	4th
WSU	320	124	168	28	.431	62	78	20	.450	1 NCAA Bid
25 Seasons Overall
	Overall					League
	GP	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Finish
Career	949	426	444	79	.491	290	294	67	.497	4 NCAA Bids

# NCAA Tournament Participant
+ Won Conference Tournament
* Seven games later forfeited due to an ineligible player.