Utah State University Athletics

Mike Wilton is in his fifth season at Utah State and first season as an assistant coach after spending the previous four seasons as a volunteer assistant.

During the 2022 campaign, Wilton helped Utah State to win its first-ever Mountain West Tournament Championship and first NCAA Tournament berth since 2010, and just the program’s fifth-ever appearance. The Aggies finished the campaign with a 22-11 overall record which was the first time USU has recorded at least 22 wins in back-to-back seasons since 1982.

In the 2021 season, Wilton helped the Aggies to a share of the Mountain West regular season title. USU finished the year with a 22-9 record, the most wins since 2010. Utah State posted 14 MW wins, the most since 2012, and 12 home victories, the most since 1979.

Wilton’s coaching career began at Cal Poly, where he spent 11 seasons (1978-89) at the helm of the women’s program, compiling a 292-137 record. While there, he guided the Mustangs to 10-straight national tournament appearances, while Cal Poly finished the season ranked in the top-five four times. 

Following his stint at Cal Poly, Wilton spent 17 years as the head men’s coach at Hawai’i (1992-2009). Posting a career record of 316-167, Wilton guided the Warriors to three Final Four appearances and five Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles. In his time at Hawai’i, Wilton coached 26 players to All-America honors, while two were named the National Player of the Year. 

Individually, Wilton has earned conference Coach of the Year accolades three times, and was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2002. 

Since his retirement from Hawai’i, Wilton has made assistant coaching stops on both the men’s and women’s side of the game. Most recently, he spent two seasons at Utah Valley, with previous stints at Southern Utah (2015-16), Hawai’i-Hilo (2010) and BYU (2009). He was also an assistant coach on the BYU men’s staff from 2011-15, helping the Cougars to the NCAA Finals in 2013 and the semifinals in 2014. 

Wilton earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education and coaching from BYU-Hawaii, and his master’s in physical education and administration from BYU.