Wilton Should go

[gstring]

It sad that wilton believes that he has to recruit overseas...there are many willing players here in the US that would love to play for a school like hawaii...His complaint is that he doesnt have the means to recruit players in the US or that to stay competitive he has to recruit overseas...if he is a good coach why not recruit the average middle of the road players and develop them through the program...that is the ultimate testiment of a great coach....i think wilton shoud go

[BarcelonaBob]

gstring said:

It sad that wilton believes that he has to recruit overseas...there are many willing players here in the US that would love to play for a school like hawaii...His complaint is that he doesnt have the means to recruit players in the US or that to stay competitive he has to recruit overseas...if he is a good coach why not recruit the average middle of the road players and develop them through the program...that is the ultimate testiment of a great coach....i think wilton shoud go

Methinks the clue-bird should visit you and take a crap on your head, because right now, you don't have a clue.

[hwy101]

A couple of players (who have since graduated) in 2002 were very happy that Wilton was considering the move to Provo, Utah. It did not happen.

One player commented: "I thought we would have gotten rid of him".

[roy]

I personally do not care for Wilton's attitude. He has a very rough personality and it tends to frustrate his players. We lost a lot of talent because people were upset at him.

I can't complain about his coaching style. He tends to go for shorter hitters who play great defense and transition well. I really enjoy watching these players as they also tend to have the most heart.

But I can also feel for Wilton and Shoji. Hawaii is put in a place where they have to be good. Both programs are profitable and the athletic department expects them to make money. And the fans expect to see a great team year in and out and really have no other team to look to for a national title. Other programs can use a bit of time to develop talent. Hawaii fans expect that the teams should contend for the title each year regardless of the circumstances. International players are a solution to the problem.

[Noname]

roy said:

I personally do not care for Wilton's attitude. He has a very rough personality and it tends to frustrate his players. We lost a lot of talent because people were upset at him.

You think him being a Marine has something to do with it? I know the Corps. can be that demanding, not to mention most of the time is the mind games that fustrates the military personnel.

[instig8tr]

Wilton does not necessarily recruit overseas...most of his overseas players found him, or were found through a friend. His intentions are not to just recruit overseas. As for players in the US going to the Hawaii program, Wilton recruits many...his US players have always outnumbered his foreigners.

About Coach Wilton being a tough coach...well maybe thats because he cares about his players not only to mold them into good players, but good people and pupils also. Those are the "three p's" of the Hawaii program. Becoming good players, people and pupils. Its hard to do that with college age kids. He may not always succeed, but at least he's trying. Can't say that about many other coaches...most only care about volleyball and keeping their kids eligible...no matter what it takes.

As for any of his players who wanted him gone, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Hawaii's program is as successful as its been because of Wilton. If it weren't for Wilton those kids wouldnt be there. Sounds like a bunch of ingrates to me.

[BarcelonaBob]

roy said:

I personally do not care for Wilton's attitude. He has a very rough personality and it tends to frustrate his players. We lost a lot of talent because people were upset at him.

I can't complain about his coaching style. He tends to go for shorter hitters who play great defense and transition well. I really enjoy watching these players as they also tend to have the most heart.

But I can also feel for Wilton and Shoji. Hawaii is put in a place where they have to be good. Both programs are profitable and the athletic department expects them to make money. And the fans expect to see a great team year in and out and really have no other team to look to for a national title. Other programs can use a bit of time to develop talent. Hawaii fans expect that the teams should contend for the title each year regardless of the circumstances. International players are a solution to the problem.

Wilton's definitely not a huggy-feely kinda guy, but to understand where Wilton is at today, requires a look back at the history of his coaching tenure:

1993 - Takes over the UH program from previous coach Alan Rosehill. UH had some success prior to Wilton, both at the club level and the first few years as a varsity program (under Dave Shoji). Rosehill's best years were probably 1988-90, with the Allen Allen, Brian Poppinga, Carlos Briceno, Damien Hardy, and Lyman Lacro group of players.

Where Rosehill was a "players coach" who allowed alot of leeway with his players as far as discipline, work ethic, and on/off court behavior, Wilton was 180 degrees the opposite. During his previous coaching tenure with the Cal-Poly women's program, talk was also that he could be overly strict and demanding on his players at times. He did, however, lead them to their one-and-only #1 ranking in the program's history in 1984.

1995 - Wilton recruits Yuval Katz on a tip from UH booster Fred Hiapo, who had played with Katz' dad in some international friendship tournaments. Katz comes in as a relative unknown to the rest of the teams in the league and proceeds to singlehandedly boost UH into a national contender. UH men's volleyball mania erupts, as the program has its first-ever sellout in a first-round MPSF playoff match against CSUN in the SSC with 10,225 sign-carrying volleyball crazy fans in attendance. UH electrifies its hometown fans with some tremendous performances in the MPSF semis/finals, putting away a very good UCSB team in the semis before coming up just short against UCLA in the finals. UH makes its first-ever Final Four appearance, but loses a 5-game war with Penn St. UH also loses the consolation game to Ball St. the very next day.

Notable Wilton contribution: He petitions the NCAA to put an off day between the semifinals/finals, which is implemented the next year (1996). He also petitions to have the meaningless 3rd place match done away with, which is also implemented the next year (1996).

1996 - a magical UH season, in which the team holds the #1 ranking from pre-season all the way into the playoffs. Tough semifinal loss to UCSB in the MPSF semis in front of a stunned SSC sellout crowd. UH gets at-large bid, but loses to UCLA in a remarkable and controversial final at Pauley Pavilion. Katz foregos his last 2 years of eligibility to play pro in Europe.

1997 - UH struggles through a mediocre season in the post-Katz era. Some dissention amongst players who are benched by Wilton, who perceives them as not playing hard enough in matches. Some negative stories appear in the local newspapers.

1999/2000 - Controversy over Wilton's treatment of players comes into public light when Andre Breuer foregoes his final year of eligibility at UH, and decides to enroll in a graduate program at Pepperdine and plays for Marv during the 2000 season. Unlike former UH player Rick Tune, who had done the same thing 2 years earlier in 1998, Breuer's departure is not amicable because of a letter which Breuer wrote to the press detailing his gripes with Wilton. Notable amongst the bad publicity is an off-color remark Wilton makes during practice about sending Miladinovich back to Serbia (which at the time was involved in major civil war). Former bows (like Jason Olive and Albert Hanneman) are also interviewed by the local papers and have less-than-stellar remarks about Wilton.

2002 - Wilton and team win national championship. Notable in this championship season is the performance of Tony Ching, a player whom Wilton had problems with throughout his career.

2003 - NCAA strips UH of title for using illegal player. UH appeals.

2004 - Wilton suspends 4 players, including 3 starters, for violation of team rules while on roadtrip. NCAA upholds decision and UH is stripped of 2002 championship.

Notable Wilton contribution: He petitions the MPSF at the league meeting to give the regular-season MPSF champion a first-round bye in the playoffs, along with the automatic bid to host the semis/finals.

All in all, I think Wilton today is older and wiser than the Wilton of 10 years ago. He's been there longer than any other men's coach in the program's history, and he's been to 3 NCAA Championships. As I've watched him through the years, he seems alot less uptight in big-game situations than he was when UH made its first appearance in 1995. After the Breuer incident, Wilton is alot more savvy at handling the local media, and is alot more careful about what he says to the media. I applaud him for keeping most of the team's business "in house", especially in regards to the disciplinary action taken earlier in the 2004 season.

Wilton will never be a "player's coach" - the kinda coach that every player thinks is just the coolest dude around. But Wilton is fair and just in dealing out both praise and discipline to his players, as far as I can tell. There is no doubt that his background both in the Mormon church and as a former Marine influences his coaching style. He's not gonna be a warm, friendly, approachable guy like a Marv Dunphy. But he's not arrogant person willing to stir up controversy in the press and say stupid things like Al Scates either.

I think Wilton's contributions to the sport are underemphasized as well. Two of his biggest strengths are that he gives anyone with ability a chance in his program, which is growing increasingly rare in the sport. A 6'2" OH who has athleticism and skill can very well start at UH, whereas at UCLA or Pepperdine that same athlete will strictly be looked at as a libero or serving specialist. The other things Wilton has done have benefitted the sport both at the NCAA and MPSF levels, as detailed earlier in the thread.

[sjhaysuess]

What do you mean Wilton cares about what matters and not keeping guys eligible. I seem to remember a man named Costas Theocardis...seems to me he should balance out the two...

[kolohekeiki]

gstring said:

It sad that wilton believes that he has to recruit overseas...there are many willing players here in the US that would love to play for a school like hawaii...His complaint is that he doesnt have the means to recruit players in the US or that to stay competitive he has to recruit overseas...if he is a good coach why not recruit the average middle of the road players and develop them through the program...that is the ultimate testiment of a great coach....i think wilton shoud go

If Wilton should go for recruiting guys overseas, than the coach for BYU should go as well, the coach for Lewis because these two teams also always have a bunch of guys from overseas, so don't just hit on Mike Wilton just because he recruits overseas.

Yeah I do agree that lots of the local people here in Hawai`i don't care for Mike Wilton because he is prejudice to the local volleyball players here. Because I know for a fact that if you grow up here and play volleyball it is really hard to make the team. But of course there are some exceptions such as Tony Ching. That's why if you notice there aren't that much local boys on the roster. Because they choose to go else where because of the coaching here.

But I think Mike Wilton has done a great job with the volleyball program and he has made it a national power since taking the reigns.

[vb]

No foreign players are allowed till UCLA becomes a powerhouse again. Come-on guys.....figure it out! Who is feeding the whole NCAA thing? (Just read the articles coming out of UCLA)

[Bookumdanoaloha]

Add Long Beach State to that list. Hawaii players and coaches know who ratted to the NCAA, and it wasn't a Bruin. We know who the player was. It's common knowledge in the Hawaii Mens Volleyball circle.

Maybe the Hawaiian Gods put "A Curse on the Beach" during the fifth game of the FF, when the Beach choked their National Championship away.

Bookumdanoaloha.

[vballguy2001]

I am from the states so I know nothing of all the terrible stuff you guys are saying. All I know is that I have had a lot of friends get recruited and or played for him, and they have nothing but good things to say. All they say is that he is a disciplinarian, and kind of a control freak. So what, he is the coach. I think he is allowed that.

I think he is learning to work with his players, and relaxing a bit. I have heard that Hawaii isn't the greatest place to coach. They demand a lot of their coaches to be successful. This can cause a lot of stress, and maybe that is why he could be getting a bad rap.

[Mac]

The whole foreign player issue has been under a magnifying glass all year because of the VERY REAL issues that caused a great team to lose its trophy, and because another great team is apparently on the verge of losing its trophy, and because another great team is still under scrutiny eventhough they've been cleared. Now to say any one team/coach/person is responsible for causing the firestorm.. I have one thing to say: SO WHAT. Who cares who's telling, if it's going to clean up the sport. I applaud the comments from UCSB's coach for not wanting to see a third year in a row go down the tubes due to illegal activities, whether they were intentional or not. I'd prefer for the coaches to be more correct when they bring an alleged infraction to the NCAA, and when they comment about it in public, but they aren't detectives. What I'd like to see is a means for coaches to bring potential infractions to the NCAA in a way that isn't public and so reputations can be maintained until something real has been uncovered.

In the case of Lewis' case, they self-reported and it got out into the public, for the most part because they kept some players off the court and that was pretty obvious. In the case of BYU, there was enough evidence for someone to stand up, after two years of this crappola, and speak up. If the findings stand up, he was wrong. But he shouldn't be chastised for it. He did his duty to his sport. What is wrong is that the allegations got into the open when they may not have been deserved.

If two teams in a row have their trophy's snatched back it will be two travesties too many. The runners up and the semi-finalists were denied their rightful national championships, and those are the real victims, in addition to the players on the winning teams who just played and didn't know of the infractions, and their fans. But I for one have had enough of this, and if there is evidence of an infraction I want coaches to be able to report a concern to someone who is going to be responsible for responsibly investigating it in private so clean programs aren't dragged into the mud if it isn't warranted.

I like foreign players myself. I don't want to see too many on a team. I believe there should be a cap. After all, this is the US college level. We have to look out for our own. But there are plenty of foreign players who are legitimately playing and they do add to the game. UCLA has had many foreigners. What they don't want is illegal foreigners. I don't want that too. LBS has them. UoP. Pepp. It's here to stay, but we just have to ensure they're legal and that's the tough part. But ultimately it's the school's responsibility to make sure they're legal.

[banthony2]

From a purely speactator point of view, I like foreign players because they bring the level of play up.

As far as UCSB is concerned, they did what they had to do. There were not hard feelings at BYU over it. Preston is a good friend of BYU Associate Athletic Director Brian Santiago. He even wrote letters of apology to BYU and the player mentioned (I think I posted this on here before). I loved watching Paal, Slabe, Aja, Winters, and Costas T.......my goodness he was amazing. When Hawaii came out to play BYU in Provo last year it was incredible. UH getting swept the first night with Costas getting shut down. The next night, in front of 11,000 fans he tears it up. Zimed ran under the net kicked a ball that was going to land in Petersen's lap and brought it back to keep the point alive (a point which UH won). I always like seeing stand up players from the US, but the foreign players seem to step it up a notch.

[roy]

In general, I like foreign players. I think they help to improve the overall players they play with. And from a college standpoint, I think it is great for the players. It gives them a chance to interact with people from other countries. College is suppoes to broaden a student's horizons. Meeting and understanding how others think is definately good for college kids.