Jan 27, 2010 7:42:08 AM

Middlebury's Bill Mandigo became the first women's ice hockey coach at any level of the collegiate game to reach 400 victories with last weekend's sweep of a two-game series against Williams.

Mandigo, who has led the Panthers to five Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship titles and four New England Small College Athletic Conference championships in compiling a 400-102-21 record, is in his 22nd season at the school.

"It means I'm old," Mandigo said in an interview last week at U.S. College Hockey Online before the games against Williams. "I've been doing it longer than everybody else so that certainly makes a difference. You certainly don't get that many wins without having good players, and we've had a bunch of them. The success we've had doesn't come without outstanding players, and that makes my job a lot easier."

Mandigo has 63 more victories than former Colby and Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson, who retired in 2007 with 337 wins and 71 more victories than Katey Stone, who has 329 wins in her 16th season at Harvard. Brown's Digit Murphy ranks fourth in victories with 315.

Gustavus Adolphus' Mike Carroll ranks second in victories among Division III women's coaches with 227 wins in 11 seasons.

Mandigo also serves as head women's golf coach at Middlebury, where he led the Panthers to a Division III Women's Golf Championships appearance last spring.