Mike Walton Named Wesleyan Basketball Coach

MACON, Ga. – Wesleyan College selected Macon native Mike Walton as the institution’s new head basketball coach.

Walton leads the Pioneers after concluding a three-year term on the coaching staff at NCAA Division I member South Carolina State University. While with the Bulldogs, Walton played a role in nearly every facet of the program from developing game plans to coordinating recruiting efforts to budget management. During his three years, South Carolina State averaged 15 wins per season.

“Mike's past experiences as a player and coach will benefit the Pioneer Basketball program and raise us to new heights,” remarks Athletic Director Patty Gibbs. “His enthusiasm and passion for the sport is evident and his ability to interact with the players is natural and comfortable. I think they will respond well to his coaching.”

A graduate of Mount de Sales Academy, Walton was a standout on both the court and the gridiron for the Cavaliers. He would go on to become a four-year letter winner at Rice University for former University of Memphis assistant and current Texas A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Willis Wilson.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to bring my family home to Macon and take on the task of building a winning program here at Wesleyan,” states Walton. “The quality of education here is second-to-none, and there is a lot of potential to build the same caliber basketball program and athletic department. With senior captains Bre’ Solmone and Erinn Williams, I feel we have a great core of returning players who are passionate about turning things around.”

“I think the first order of business will be to create an atmosphere that demands success. We will build this program on the 5 Pillars of Pioneer Pride: Commitment, Effort, Trust, Discipline and Team We,” Walton explains. “From there, I think the focus will be to build a recruiting pipeline in the Middle Georgia region that will allow us to capitalize on the area’s stockpile of talented student-athletes. There are far too many talented basketball players in our backyard for us not to build a winning program and garner devoted support from the Middle Georgia community. We need to bring those young ladies into our program.”

Wesleyan opens the 2011-12 campaign on November 19 when the Pioneers hit the road to face Toccoa Falls College.