Mike Wilton's philosophy of coaching college athletics is simple. He teaches the "three Bs."
Be the best player, be the best student and be the best person you can be.His philosophy is unique considering today's win-at-all-costs mind-set, where character is less valued than the ability to throw, shoot or - in Coach Wilton's case - spike the ball.
"We expect our student-athletes to commit to become their personal best as students, athletes and as persons," explained Coach Wilton of the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team. "Most of them are internally motivated toward success to some degree in these areas before we get them. That's why we recruited them. Occasionally someone will exhibit a lack of motivation. Then we work with that person to help him become re-committed to success."
This philosophy has not only produced good role models on the team, but also a discipline that brought back-to-back Final Four appearances in 1995 and 1996, finishing fourth and second, respectively. In 1995, he was not only named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach-of-the-Year, but also National Coach of the Year. In only his sixth season with the Rainbows, Coach Wilton of the Manoa Ward, Honolulu Hawaii Stake, has won 104 matches and led the team to its current 4th place national ranking.
In an area where "volleyballmania" is considered a legitimate term and where attendance figures rival that of Division 1 basketball, this kind of success has brought some notoriety to Coach Wilton. Most notably, it has shifted a spotlight to the values he espouses on and off the court. (See box on this page.)
Coach Wilton explained that last season - with each season beginning in January - they played in front of a total attendance crowd of some 142,000 for 18 home matches. In addition, nearly 2 million watched on TV. "If you were to take just our attendance figures alone and compare that to men's Division One college basketball, we would have ranked 41st in the nation last year," he added.
"The truest measure of a coach is the impact on a player five years later or 10 years later. That's what matters," he said during a Church News telephone interview. He said he tells his players, "You don't have a choice. You are a role model. The choice is: Are you going to be a good one or a bad one?"
And that choice, he surmises, is regardless of winning or losing. "Athletics is life with the volume turned way up," he said, quoting a golfer he once read about. "Everything that happens on the court is similar to what happens in everyday living - highs and lows, rough spots and thrilling moments. They are all there," Coach Wilton added.
The highs and lows have definitely been there for Coach Wilton, his wife, Kuulei, and their five children, Jenny, 24; Aaron, 22; Mike, 18; Eva, 16; and Melissa, 14. The coach said the Church has been their anchor - or net, as the case may be - through it all.
The couple met in 1972 while non-LDS students at BYU-Hawaii in Laie, then the Church College of Hawaii. Not long after, they married in Santa Barbara, Calif., and a year later, their daughter, Jenny, was born. "With her arrival came a stark realization that we needed some help to rear this child like we hoped to," Coach Wilton recalled. "So we started attending various churches in Santa Barbara."
After several visits to various faiths, the Wiltons decided to visit an LDS ward. They walked into the chapel during the opening hymn. "I was converted before that hymn was over," he related. "There was no question in my mind that there was something special going on in that chapel. We were baptized a month later."
Coach Wilton had played volleyball for BYU-Hawaii and had graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education, with a history minor, but was unable to get a full-time position. To support his growing family, he took odd jobs, including janitorial work, and taught beach volleyball classes.
"The enjoyment of teaching those volleyball classes is what got me interested in teaching and coaching," he continued. So the young family moved to Provo, Utah, where he entered the graduate program at BYU. He graduated with a master's degree in physical education and administration in 1977. Even before finishing the program, he was named head coach at BYU-Hawaii and moved the family back to the Islands.
Then in 1978, he was named head coach for men's and women's volleyball at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in California. Three years later, the university asked him to focus on the women's team. During his 12 years there, his teams produced 23 All-Americans and earned national rankings 10 straight years. He was named Big West Conference Coach-of-the-Year twice.
Despite these successes, in 1989 he faced a professional and personal crisis. A non-scholarship player complained about his disciplined practices to the university, and his contract was not renewed.
"Hard times are going to happen in life," Coach Wilton related. "It gives you an opportunity to do a lot of introspective thinking."
He had more than two years to think.
Again, he took various jobs to support his family, including working in a lumber yard and teaching high school. He also assisted coaching at BYU in 1991. Then, in 1992, the head coaching job at Hawaii was opened; Coach Wilton applied and got the job.
Preparing for the 1993 season brought unique challenges. "We discovered that most of the good players that come out of Hawaii go to the mainland," Coach Wilton recalled. "I knew we would be at a recruiting disadvantage because we'd have a hard time recruiting kids from the mainland because of our location."
So Hawaii turned to the international courts. Over the years, players have been from Israel, Germany, Serbia, Puerto Rico, with a handful from Hawaii and the mainland.
Coach Wilton also introduced his disciplined style of coaching to the players. Hawaii volleyball players are expected to be on time for and give their best in practices and games, have a team spirit and display sportsmanship. They are also to maintain their academic standing and progress as individuals.
His son, Aaron, himself an All-American who played under his father's tutelage for five years, recalled during a telephone interview that one player in particular struggled at first. Years later, however, Aaron heard that athlete telling younger players, "You may not like it now, but it's going to help you a lot after you get out of school. You're going to look back and say, `Yeah, Coach was right.' "
Coach Wilton said: "I think people want to be challenged. As long as they know they're cared for, I think things will be fine."
