after spending the 2004-05 season as an assistant at university of maryland, college park under gary williams, where he helped the terrapins to the nit semifinals, lonergan accepted the head coaching position at the university of vermont, replacing tom brennan. lonergan coached the catamounts for six seasons where he averaged 21 wins a year and finished with a career record of 126-68 and .649 winning percentage at uvm, which is the second highest in school history among coaches with at least 100 career decisions, behind current uvm coach john becker. in the last six seasons he guided vermont to four postseason appearances, including a trip to the ncaa tournament in 2010. he ranks third all-time at uvm in career wins.