Mike Wilton, who steered the Hawai'i men's volleyball program to rock-star status in the 1990s and a disputed national championship in 2002, announced he is retiring as the Warriors' head coach.

"I've had a great time," said Wilton, whose three-year contract will lapse June 30.

Wilton, who is in his 17th season with the Warriors, said he has accepted an assistant coach's position with the Brigham Young women's team.

Wilton and his wife will move to Provo this summer. Three of their five adult children and their families live on the Mainland. Wilton is a high official in the Mormon church, which administers BYU.

"It's time," said Wilton, whose Warriors will not qualify for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs for the second consecutive year. Those are the only non-winning seasons in a coaching career that is approaching four decades.

"I really appreciate the 17 years Mike spent at UH," athletic director Jim Donovan said. "He's brought a lot of positive memories to men's volleyball."

Former UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida will chair a search committee to find Wilton's successor. Also on the committee are Basil Sparlin, Ken Rowe, LeeAnn Satele, Scott Robbs and John McNamara. The position will be posted tomorrow.

If asked, Wilton said, he would recommend associate head coach Tino Reyes as the next coach. Wilton also said he wishes that assistant coach Mason Kuo remain on the staff.

Wilton's arrival at UH coincided with the opening of the Stan Sheriff Center. It was Wilton who crafted the marketing motto: Volleyball is a contact sport.

It became more than that, transforming into the People's Sport.

Yuval Katz, a former Israeli soldier, became the Sheriff Center's first celebrity. He was the jewel of a program that also sparkled with Aaron Wilton, Jason Ring and Naveh Milo.

The Warriors — often referred to as the Men of War — played to SRO crowds. Often, the players had to sneak away in laundry hampers to avoid an insatiable audience.

One year, they earned more than $300,000 in profit for the athletic department.

"I'll never forget the days when people were hanging from the rafters, with Yuval Katz and the Rubberband Man," Donovan said. "There are memories that will be there for the rest of our lives. Mike Wilton was the orchestrator of all of that. He brought the people in."

In 1996, the Warriors went 27-1 during the regular season. They lost in five games to UCLA in the NCAA championship match.

In 2002, led by outside hitters Costas Theocharidis and Tony Ching and middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic, the Warriors defeated Pepperdine in the NCAA title match. But a year later, the NCAA ruled that Theocharidis had violated amateur rules by playing alongside paid teammates prior to enrolling at UH. Theocharidis was not paid, did not sign a contract nor retain an agent.

The NCAA stripped the Warriors of the 2002 championship, although the MPSF decided to keep intact Theocharidis' records and statistics. In the NCAA building in Indianapolis, there still is a plaque recognizing UH as the 2002 national champion.

But the banner commemorating the first men's team title in UH history was taken down from the Sheriff Center rafters. It was a symbolic descent for a program that, while finding some success in ensuing years, never could recapture its widespread popularity.

Still, Wilton maintained his old-school sensibilities: a meritocracy awarded starting jobs; academics and athletics were treated as equals.

"You're here to go to school," said Wilton, who benches players for even one unexcused absence.

"I ask all coaches to do things like make sure you recruit good kids, make sure the kids do well in school and graduate," Donovan said. "Mike did those things big time. On top of that, he also won a lot over the years.

"He taught people how to be winners," Donovan added. "He cared about them as people. He wanted them to learn to fight through challenges — how to become a better person, how to be selfless. All of those things he taught those players through the years. That's a testament to who he is. I have tremendous respect for him. I can't say thanks enough for everything he's done for men's volleyball and UH athletics."