| Pete Gillen | |
| Birth Date: | 20 June 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Player Years1: | 1965–1968 |
| Player Team1: | Fairfield |
| Player Positions: | Guard |
| Coach Years1: | 1975–1976 |
| Coach Team1: | Hawaii (assistant) |
| Coach Years2: | 1976–1978 |
| Coach Team2: | VMI (assistant) |
| Coach Years3: | 1978–1980 |
| Coach Team3: | Villanova (assistant) |
| Coach Years4: | 1980–1985 |
| Coach Team4: | Notre Dame (assistant) |
| Coach Years5: | 1985–1994 |
| Coach Team5: | Xavier |
| Coach Years6: | 1994–1998 |
| Coach Team6: | Providence |
| Coach Years7: | 1998–2005 |
| Coach Team7: | Virginia |
| Overall Record: | 392–221 |
| Tournament Record: | 8–9 (NCAA Division I) 6–7 (NIT) |
| Championships: | 5 MCC tournament (1986–1989, 1991) 6 MCC regular season (1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994) |
| Awards: | 5x MCC Coach of the Year (1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994) |
Peter Joseph Gillen[1] (born June 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball head coach of the Division I Providence Friars and Virginia Cavaliers and is a member of the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.[2] Gillen is currently a college basketball analyst with the CBS Sports Network.
Gillen was a two sport athlete in baseball and basketball at Fairfield University, where he received his bachelor's degree cum laude in English Literature in 1968.[1]
Coach Gillen began his coaching career at his high school alma mater Brooklyn Prep, first as freshman coach in the 1970–71 school year, then as varsity head coach from 1971 to 1973.[3] He soon moved to the collegiate level when he joined the coaching staff of the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, with Rick Pitino as one of his fellow assistants. Gillen followed that with subsequent assistant coaching stints at the Virginia Military Institute, Villanova University under Rollie Massimino, and the University of Notre Dame under Digger Phelps, from 1980 to 1985.[4]
He was head basketball coach at Xavier University from 1985 to 1994, Providence College from 1994 to 1998, and the University of Virginia from 1998 to 2005.
At Xavier, Gillen compiled an impressive record, taking the Musketeers to the NCAA tournament seven times and to the NIT tournament once (1994). He won 202 games in the third-longest tenure ever for a XU coach. He was the winningest coach in XU history until Chris Mack passed him in 2018.
Following his success at Xavier, Gillen was hired at Providence to replace Rick Barnes, who had left to coach Clemson University. He followed PC's 1994 Big East title with two trips to the NIT before the Friars' 1997 run to the Elite Eight, upsetting Marquette and Duke and beating Chattanooga before losing in overtime to eventual national champion Arizona.
Following a tough 1997–98 year, where he lost four starters (three to graduation, and one (God Shammgod) to the NBA draft), Gillen moved on, replacing Jeff Jones at Virginia, who resigned on March 15, 1998 after eight years as the Cavaliers’ head coach. Gillen's seven Virginia teams compiled an overall record of 118–93 and competed in five postseason tournaments. The Cavaliers participated in the 2001 NCAA tournament and in the National Invitation Tournament four times. He resigned after the 2004–05 season. Gillen was notorious for his philosophy of expeditiously calling timeouts as he felt needed – routinely using most, if not all, of his teams' allotted timeouts in the first half of games.
In September 2008, Gillen was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame along with NBA stars Kenny Anderson, Sam Perkins, and Rod Strickland, along with pioneers Lou Bender and Eddie Younger.[5]
Coach Gillen was an assistant coach under Don Nelson for the US national team during the 1994 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.[6]
In 2005, Gillen joined College Sports Television (later CBS College Sports and now CBS Sports Network) as a college basketball analyst.[7]