UH’s Wilton A month after the Warriors were crowned NCAA champions and two players earned All-America honors, there was still one last award to be given in men's collegiate volleyball.
named national
coach of the year
The Warriors' national
championship coach wins the
award for the second timeBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comHawaii coach Mike Wilton was named the Tachikara/AVCA coach of the year yesterday.
Wilton guided Hawaii to a 24-8 record and the program's first national title. It is the second national coach of the year honor for Wilton, who earned it in 1995 after leading Hawaii to its first final four.
In 10 years of coaching the Warriors, Wilton has compiled an overall record of 200-87. He has had three 20-win seasons (1996, 1998, 2002) at UH. The Warriors' coach earned his 200th victory when Hawaii defeated then top-ranked Pepperdine in the NCAA final.
Wilton deflected the honor and said that the coaching award is a testament to the program.
"It means we had a great team. We have a great coaching staff," Wilton said. "We have great trainers. We have great managers.
"I hadn't really thought about (winning the award). The award that matters most is the psychological award when our team realized at the end that it could perform at its very best."
The Warriors did just that to capture the first men's national championship in any sport for UH. They defeated the Waves after losing in three prior meetings.
Hawaii began the year ranked fifth in the nation and climbed as high as No. 2 in the polls. In the final poll, Hawaii was first.
The coach of the year award is based on a two-stage voting process. Every current AVCA-member men's head coach is on a preliminary ballot. The top four vote receivers advance to the final ballot. Each coach votes in rank order for three coaches in the last stage. A total of 16 different coaches received votes in the first ballot. In addition to Wilton, the final ballot included Pepperdine's Marv Dunphy, Loyola-Chicago's Gordon Mayforth and Springfield's Charlie Sullivan.
Wilton will be formally honored on Dec. 19 at the AVCA national convention, which coincides with the NCAA Division I women's championship at New Orleans.
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