Gene Corrigan


Eugene Francis Corrigan was an American lacrosse player, coach of lacrosse and soccer, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head men's lacrosse coach at Washington and Lee University from 1956 to 1958 and at the University of Virginia from 1959 to 1967, compiling a career college lacrosse record of 67–64. Corrigan was also the head men's soccer coach at Washington and Lee from 1955 to 1957 and at Virginia from 1958 to 1965, tallying a career college soccer mark of 55–49–9. From 1981 to 1987 Corrigan was the athletic director at the University of Notre Dame. He served as the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1987 to 1995, and President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association from 1995-1997.
Corrigan was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1993, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. In 1996, he was a Gold Medal Recipient from the National Football Foundation.
Corrigan was the father of Boo Corrigan, athletic director at North Carolina State University; Kevin Corrigan, Head Men's Lacrosse Coach at the University of Notre Dame; and Tim Corrigan, ESPN's Senior Coordinating Producer for the NBA on ESPN. Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach Debbie Ryan was his niece.
He graduated from Loyola High School in Baltimore in 1946. Upon graduation, he served in the United States Army for 18 months.
Corrigan died on January 24, 2020 at the age of 91 in Charlottesville, Virginia.