Jim Gilligan Last College: Lamar, 1971 Position: Head Coach

Rapidly approaching the 1,150th plateau in career victories, Lamar University's Jim Gilligan trails only five active NCAA Division I coaches in that category. That's keeping pretty elite company.

All but 10 of Gilligan's 1,142 career wins entering this - his 34th season in the profession - have come in two stints of wearing a Cardinal uniform. He has guided the Cardinals to a record 10 Southland Conference regular-season championships, one Sun Belt Conference championship, four conference tournament championshps and 11 NCAA Regional appearances.

Gilligan's 1981 Cardinals won a school-record 54 games, and his teams have reached the 35-victory level on 20 other occasions.

Adding further proof of his impact on the game of baseball, Gilligan was selected for enshrinement into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2004 induction class that included Houston Astros greats Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, and Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers.

Over the past eight years, Gilligan has guided Lamar to the best overall record of any team in the Southland Conference at 297-174 (.631) and the best SLC record at 149-80 (.651). The Cardinals have won two SLC regular season titles, two SLC Tournament titles and two SLC East Division titles and appeared in three NCAA Regional Tournaments during this span.

Gilligan's overall record is 1,142-717-7 (.614) which ranks him as the 24th all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history in wins. He has a 1,132-707-7 (.616) record at Lamar.

Gilligan reached another coaching milestone in 2008, becoming the 31st coach in NCAA history to record 1,100 career wins in Lamar's dramatic 11-10 come-from-behind win over McNeese State in the final weekend of the regular-season.

Gilligan led the Cardinals to their 10th Southland Conference regular season title in 2004. Lamar also made its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance as the No. 3 seed at the Houston Regional, hosted by Rice University. Lamar lost to second-seeded Texas A&M and was eliminated by host and top-seeded Rice.

In 2003, Gilligan guided Lamar to its ninth SLC regular season title and a spot in the NCAA Regional in Austin. The Cardinals came within one win of advancing to an NCAA Super Regional after pushing the host Longhorns to a championship game.

Texas pulled out a 6-3 win over the Cardinals and went on to participate in the College World Series. Gilligan has coached 82 first-team, all-conference players and sent over 145 players into professional baseball.

Gilligan's head-coaching tenure at Lamar is split into two different periods. In his first stint, he tutored the Cardinals for 14 seasons (1973-1986) and guided LU to seven Southland Conference championships, six NCAA Regional appearances, and two zone titles.

Gilligan's teams twice played in NCAA regional semifinals, one step away from a shot at the College World Series. He garnered his 500th victory in 1986, becoming the youngest college head coach to do so at the time.

Following a five-year foray into professional baseball, Gilligan returned to Lamar for the 1992 season. He wasted little time in rebuilding the program as the Cardinals won the 1993 Sun Belt championship and advanced to the NCAA Central I Regional. Since his return, Lamar has won four conference championships, four conference tournament championships, and appeared in four NCAA Regionals.

Gilligan's trademark is getting the most out of his players, especially the pitching staff, having been a pitcher himself. He took an overachieving club in 1995 which placed fourth in the Sun Belt's regular season race to Jacksonville, Fla., for the conference tournament. Four days later, the Cardinals came back to Beaumont (after beating the host Dolphins in back-to-back games) to celebrate their SBC Tournament championship and prepare for a berth in the NCAA Regional.

Lamar played in the Midwest I Regional in Wichita, Kan., where they beat host Wichita State twice and lost to eventual College World Series participant Stanford twice.

At least part of the appeal of the Cardinal program stems from Gilligan's days as a player at Lamar to add to his 35 seasons of coaching in Beaumont (two as an assistant to Bill Vincent). Lamar has played for the conference championship on the last day of the season in 18 of those seasons.

A former southpaw pitching star for the Cardinals, Gilligan led Lamar's 1967 staff in victories (five), earned run average (2.54), and strikeouts (60). He worked as a graduate assistant coach for the Cardinals in 1970 and 1971 after pitching a year in the Detroit Tigers' organization.

In 1972, Gilligan had his only collegiate head coaching stint besides Lamar, going 10-10 at Western New Mexico before returning to the same position at his alma mater in 1973.

Gilligan's most memorable moment came in 1987 as manager of the Salt Lake Trappers of the Pioneer League. The Trappers broke a 68-year old record for consecutive wins by a professional baseball team with 29 straight triumphs. To recognize the achievement, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. created a permanent display featuring Gilligan's jersey.

Salt Lake also set a short-season record for attendance by drawing 196,000 fans for 35 home games.

Gilligan served as the Trappers pitching coach in 1986 before taking over as manager. That season, Salt Lake had the best pitching staff in the league, and the Trappers won the Pioneer League championship.

Gilligan's other professional baseball experience includes serving as the pitching coach of the Miami Miracles and the Taiwan National Team. He also helped form the Chinese Professional Baseball League by drafting player development contracts and supplying the foreign players, who consisted of American, Dominican and Panamanian players.

In 1998, Gilligan was selected to head a clinic in Zimbabwe, Africa. The trip was sanctioned by the International Baseball Association, Africa Baseball and Softball Association and the USA Baseball Association. The clinic was designed to teach their coaches the fundamentals of baseball.

Gilligan's personable nature and outstanding salesmanship have made the Lamar University Baseball Banquet each year a continuing success. Through table purchases and silent and live auctions, the weekend is designed to recognize former Cardinal players and also raise money for the program.

Gilligan earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Lamar in 1968, and he received his master's degree in health and physical education in 1971.

The primary goal Gilligan has yet to reach is a berth in the College World Series. It's an objective he plans to fulfill as part of his commitment to the program.

Gilligan and his wife, LaVerne, reside in Beaumont. LaVerne has been instrumental in the success of the annual Lamar Baseball Banquet and also assists in securing outfield billboard sponsors.