BURRILLVILLE – A Burrillville native and now coach who boasts the most wins in women’s college hockey history will return home January 4, when the Middlebury Panthers take on the Nichols Bisons in a Saturday match at Levy Rink.
Class of 1978 Burrillville High School graduate Bill Mandigo Jr. has been named coach of the year some 14 times by various organizations over his decades of coaching. And he’s made history leading the Middlebury College team since he first began serving at the Vermont school.
The son of Nancy and William Mandigo, the celebrated coach was a three-sport athlete during his time at BHS. His father, Bill Sr., graduated from Middlebury in 1958 and went on to become the long-time chairman of the history department at Burrillville High School.
Mandigo Jr. was 1st Team All-State athlete in football and a league All-Star in baseball. He went on to study at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and did a post-graduate year at The Hill School in Pennsylvania, where he played hockey for BHS hockey founder Tom Eccleston Jr.
He was the assistant men’s hockey coach at Wesleyan from 1983 to 1985, and head boys’ hockey coach at The Hill School from 1985-1987. From 1987-1988, Mandigo returned to his hometown, serving as head coach of the BHS boys hockey team.
He joined the Middlebury athletics staff in 1988 and led the women’s hockey team to American Women’s Hockey Coaches Association National titles in 2000 and 2001 before taking three-consecutive National Collegiate Athletics Association Championships from 2004 to 2006. Mandigo’s teams also captured three-straight New England Small College Athletic Conference Championships from 2016 to 2018, and 12 overall, including the 2024 title. The program has reached the 20-win plateau 17 times under Mandigo’s leadership
He’s been named Division III Women’s Coach of the Year three times by the New England Hockey Writers Association; Coach of the Year twice by the Eastern College Athletic Conference; five times NESCAC Coach of the Year and American Hockey Coaches Association National Coach of the Year four times.
Mandigo was also named head coach of the Middlebury women’s golf program in 2008, a position he held until he stepped down in 2023.
This season, the Panthers women’s hockey team finished their first semester undefeated, and returns to the ice on Friday, Jan. 3 to take on Endicott College prior to the Saturday matchup in Burrillville.
And when Mandigo leads the team in his hometown on Saturday, they’ll face another BHS hockey alum who has continued to compete on the ice: Avery Moriarty. Moriarty, a Nichols College forward, was co-captain of the 2022 BHS girls State Championship hockey team.
Catch the women’s college hockey face off at the rink at 425 East Ave. starting at 2:30 p.m.
What an extraordinary career Bill has had so far! His return to Levy rink, where it all began for him, is a not-to-be-missed event and a great learning opportunity for area youth hockey coaches and their their teams, boys and girls.