UH meets up with BYU and 1 very familiar face

Mike Wilton returns to the scene of the prime this weekend.

“I have a lot of good memories of UH and the Stan Sheriff Center for sure,” said Wilton, now an assistant coach at Brigham Young. The Cougars and Warriors meet in volleyball matches Friday and Saturday.

Wilton was the Warriors’ head coach for 17 years before retiring from UH in 2009. His tenure coincided with the era when the Warriors were pop stars and the arena was filled to capacity with sign-waving, aisle-dancing fans.

While the Warriors won the national championship in 2002 — a title that would be rescinded two years later because a player had been an amateur on a pro team — the peak of popularity was a few years earlier, when the opening of the arena and the arrival of opposite attacker Yuval Katz created a statewide frenzy.

But by 2009, nearing the end of a second consecutive losing season, Wilton opted to retire from being a head coach.

“There are many demands in being a head coach,” Wilton said. “I didn’t miss them.”

But he still wanted to be involved in coaching. He assisted BYU’s women’s team in 2009, but when his wife could not find a job in Utah, he opted to return to the islands.

His long-time associate coach, Tino Reyes, was hired as Hawaii-Hilo’s head coach in 2010. Wilton helped Reyes that season. Last year, he received an offer from Chris McGown, the newly named head coach of the BYU men’s team. McGown’s father, Carl, a former head coach of BYU and the national team, and Wilton were friends for several decades. Carl McGown also is involved with this year’s BYU team.

“One of the reasons we came here,” Wilton said in a telephone interview from Provo, Utah, “is we have three of our kids and their families living on the mainland, and we didn’t get to see them so much. We can see them a lot more now.”

He said his wife also has found work doing “a little bit of this and a little bit of that.” She also serves as a genealogist for the Mormon church.

Wilton said his duties include preparing the scouting report. The assistant coaches take turns working with the different positions.

“I really like being in the gym and helping guys get better,” Wilton said.

He said he has not been to Hawaii since this past July. Two of his daughters and their families live in Hawaii.

“It’s going to be fun,” Wilton said. “I get to see family and friends, and we get to play a good volleyball team. It should be some really good matches, I would think.”