Mike Wilson

Mike Wilson joined the Bruins' coaching staff as the associate head coach for both the cross country programs and the lead assistant coach for the track distance runners in the fall of 2019. Wilson has returned the distance program to its former glory as a Northwest Conference standard-bearer with a sweeping Northwest Conference Championship victory in 2021, 2023, and 2023 for the men and women, earning him and his staff a Northwest Coach of the Year honor all three years.

Wilson coached the men's program to its fifth straight title, and the women's program to its third straight title in 2023, leading the way with 15 All-NWC honors between the two programs. Peter Weiss earned All-American honors, the first Bruin's runner to do so, while Kayla Aalpoel picked up her second straight All-American honors. The men's team capped the season with an 11th place finish nationally, while the women's team slipped into the top 20, finishing 19th.

The Bruins made their first ever appearance to the NCAA Championships under Wilson in 2022. Both the men's and women's programs topped the Northwest Conference with 12 All-NWC honors, wrapping up their stellar season with 16th and 17th placed finishes nationally. Kayla Aalpoel's 32nd-place finish made her the first All-American in the NCAA era as well.

Wilson also guided the first two at-large NCAA Championship runners for Fox in 2021 after Kara Helland and Peter Weiss were each invited to compete at the national meet in 2021.

A 2010 graduate from Eastern University (Pa.), Wilson has both a B.A. in Biblical Studies and his MBA degree from his alma mater. Wilson was an All-MAC Freedom Conference runner for the Eastern cross country program during his collegiate career after an All-State high school career in his home state of Ohio. Wilson began his coaching career at his alma mater as an assistant for a season before taking over as the head coach of the cross country program from 2011 through 2019. In 2015, Wilson helped found the track and field program as its first head coach and finished his career there as the head coach in 2019.

During his coaching tenure at Eastern, Wilson coached three All-American honorees (Nicole Weenink - long jump & triple jump, 2019; Grant Fisher - javelin, 2019), four Athlete of the Year Honorees (Josey Rupert, 2014;, Nicole Weenink, 2019; Kierra Zack, 2019; Evan Wildermuth, 2019), and 2014 Conference Champion and Female Athlete of the Year - Women's XC - Josey Rupert (2x All Region). Wilson also coached eight NCAA National Qualifiers, 26 Conference Champions, 30 All-Mideast Region Athletes, and 184 All-Conference Athletes. His men's track and field program progressed from 12th to second in the conference and from 34th to fifth in the Mideast Region, while the women's program jumped from 11th to second in the conference and from 40th to third in the Mideast Region.

Following this successful tenure at Eastern, Wilson served as an assistant for one season on the University of Michigan staff working with the cross country team. With Wilson's help, the male Wolverines finished seventh in the country in 2019 with two All-American performances.

"I got into coaching because I am obsessed with the sport and I love working with athletes in these extremely formative years," Wilson says of his motivation for being involved in athletics. "Watching athletes achieve things they didn't think possible and grow into better, more Christlike versions of themselves in the process... that's what it's about. If they shine on the big stages in running, I'll be pumped. If they are better people ten, thirty, fifty years from now because they ran at George Fox, then we'll have served them well. I want to make sure we do both exceptionally well."