Andrew Willihan was hired in 2016 as the men's and women's Alpine Coach and Outdoor Recreation Coordinator through Mainely Outdoors®. He then added Assistant Director of Snowsports to his title in 2017. He held the Assistant Director title until 2021 when he was named the interim Director of Snowsports replacing Scott Hoisington. In summer of 2022, Willihan became the Director of Snowsports at UMaine-Farmington.
A 2006 graduate of UMF, Willihan returns to his alma mater after spending the past decade in the ski industry, primarily as a coach. He served in numerous roles at Carrabasset Valley Academy (CVA), including head U14/U16 alpine coach and head U16 women's coach for the past two seasons resulting in three U16 National Championship qualifiers and a United States Ski Team National Training Group member. In 2015, Willihan qualified a total of ten athletes to the U14 Canadian-American games.
As Weekend Program Manager and Winter Camp Director at CVA, he was responsible for managing 20 coaches, organizing hiring clinics and maintaining equipment inventory among other things. He was instrumental in creating programming that linked CVA's weekend program and the full-time academy.
In his early years at CVA, Willihan was a J1-2 women's coach for CVA where he got his start coaching the CVA Weekend Program while completing his degree at UMF.
As the Outdoor Recreation Coordinator, Willihan will both lead and assist in the continued development and delivery of Mainely Outdoors®, the University's four season outdoor recreation programming that operates under the UMF Fitness and Recreation Center umbrella. Andrew will work closely with Toner and other resources on campus and in the region to build on the foundation to deliver diverse outdoor recreation/adventure experiences for students, faculty, staff and members of the community.
Willihan's outdoor education experience is also extensive and includes but is not limited to working as a boating director at Wavus Camps in Jefferson, Maine for three years managing the staff, maintaining over 25 boats, and leading overnight canoe and kayak trips. As an ALPS team member at CVA from 2000-02, he was apart of a backcountry team that traveled across the country and Europe on winter backcountry trips. Willihan also volunteered as a deckhand and logistics officer with Outward Bound Hurricane (OBH) Island and organized up to 21-day trips for 20 students with OBH.
Willihan holds certifications as a USSA Alpine Coach (Level 300), USSA Skills Quest Evaluator, and USSA Alpine Official (Referee-2). Willihan is the chairman of the Maine Alpine Racing Association Children's Committee and sits on the Eastern Children's Committee.
Willihan graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a bachelor's degree in education with a concentration in psychology.
