Career
Gillen is currently a college basketball analyst with the Columbia Broadcasting System Sports Network. Playing career
Gillen was two sport athlete in baseball and basketball at Fairfield University where he received his bachelor"s degree in English Literature in 1968. Coaching career
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. 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament seven times and to the National Institute of Technology tournament once (1994). Following his success at Xavier, Gillen was hired at Providence to replace Rick Barnes, who had left to coach Clemson University.
Following a tough 1997-1998 year, where he lost four starters (three to graduation, and one (God Shammgod) to the National Basketball Association 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament and in the National Invitation Tournament four times. He resigned after the 2004-2005 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 National Basketball Association stars Kenny Anderson, Sam Perkins and Rod Strickland, and pioneers Lou Bender and Eddie Younger. = United States of America Basketball Coach Gillen was an assistant coach under Don Nelson for the United States national team during the 1994 International Basketball Federation World Championship, winning the gold medal.
Broadcasting career
Gillen is currently a college basketball analyst with the Columbia Broadcasting System Sports Network.