George Fox University

Mike Wilson joined the Bruins' coaching staff as the associate head coach for both 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 the Northwest Conference standard-bearer with Northwest Conference Championship sweeps in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 for the men and women, earning him and his staff a Northwest Coach of the Year honor all five years.

Wilson coached the men's program to its seventh straight Northwest Conference title, and the women's program to its fifth straight title in 2025, leading the way with 12 All-NWC honors between the two programs. Emily Foote won the individual conference championship, and punched her ticket to the 2025 National Cross Country Championships in South Carolina with a 4th place finish at the 2025 NCAA West Regional. She was joined on the national stage by returning seniors Hope Bridge and Caden Hildenbrand. 

The Bruins made their first ever appearance to the NCAA Championships under Wilson in 2021, when Kara Helland and Peter Weiss were each invited to compete individually. Since then, the George Fox men’s and women’s programs have competed on the national stage in 3 of the last 4 seasons. To date, the men have finished as high as 11th nationally, and the women have placed as high as 16th. Both teams have earned several All American honors and will return six All Region runners from the 2025 squad.

On the track, Wilson’s athletes have earned 8 All American honors, 62 Regional awards, and 68 All NWC accolades. 29 different Bruins have won an individual Northwest Conference title in past 7 years, and 9 have earned Athlete or Rookie of the Year honors. In 2022, Wilson was named West Regional Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA. 

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. 

Following this successful tenure at Eastern, Wilson served as an assistant for one season on the University of Michigan staff working with the men’s cross country team. With Wilson's help, the 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 to the very best of our ability on this staff."