The constant success of the University of Hawai‘i men’s volleyball program can be attributed to one man - Mike Wilton. For the past 16 years, Wilton has solidified the Warriors as a national contender.
After consecutive losing seasons, the first two of his 30-year career coaching the men’s and women’s volleyball teams at UH and Cal Poly, Wilton looks to return his Warriors back to national prominence.
Despite a 11-16 record in 2008, the Warriors handed Wilton his 300th career victory at the school with a dramatic 25-30, 30-26, 30-24, 26-30, 15-13 victory over rival UCLA on Feb. 14.
With 345 career wins with men’s programs - including a program-best 307 at UH - Wilton has established himself as one of the most successful men’s volleyball coaches in the country. In 31 seasons coaching at the collegiate level, he has amassed 628 wins, which includes 281 wins in 12 seasons with the Cal Poly women.
Under Wilton, the Warrior volleyball program has risen among the elite with five Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Pacific Division titles, three NCAA semi-final appearances, and five Top 5 final national rankings. During his tenure, the Warriors posted four 20-win seasons, have won more than 67 percent of their matches, and has been nationally ranked in all 16 seasons.
Wilton’s system has helped create two National Players of the Pear, Yuval Katz (1996) and Costas Theocharidis (2001), 14 All-Americans and 26 all-conference athletes. With so much talent, the Warriors have attracted a following leading the nation in attendance for the past 11 years.
For his efforts, Wilton has been named AVCA National Coach of the Year twice, in 1995 and 2002 as well as MPSF Coach of the Year in 1995.
In 1996, the Warriors completed perhaps the program’s best season with a 27-3 overall record and became one of a handful of MPSF teams to finish a perfect 19-0 in league play. Wilton directed UH to the national championship match against UCLA but fell 15-12 in the deciding fifth game.
The Warriors returned to the title match in 2002 but would later forfeit the outcome due to use of an ineligible player.
Wilton has been around coaches his whole life. His father, Willie Wilton, was a highly successful men’s basketball coach at UC Santa Barbara, who is a member of the Gauchos’ Athletic Hall of Fame.
Along with his wife, Ku‘ulei, Wilton has passed along his love of volleyball to his family. His eldest son, Aaron, was an AVCA All-American with the Warriors, who played on NCAA Finals teams in 1995 and ’96. Aaron was on his father’s coaching staff from 2001-05.
Daughter Jenny earned second-team all-Big West volleyball honors at Hawai‘i and captained the 1995 team to a 31-1 mark.
Wilton’s youngest son, Mike Jr., wrapped up his collegiate career playing for MPSF rival Brigham Young, while daughter Melissa lettered at Utah State in 2002.
Wilton initially arrived in Hawai‘i in the late 1960s when he played volleyball at Church College of Hawai‘i, now called BYU-Hawai‘i. He was their men’s coach in 1976 before moving back to the mainland and spending 12 seasons with the Cal Poly-SLO women’s team.
At Cal Poly, Wilton posted an impressive 283-137 record from 1978-89. He also led the Cal Poly-SLO men’s team for three years.
Wilton has also served as an assistant with the UC Santa Barbara men’s squad. Wilton took over the Warrior program after a year as an assistant with the Brigham Young men’s squad in Provo, Utah.
