Head
Coach • Ken Wagner
Ken
Wagner is the most successful basketball coach in BYU-Hawaii history. Coming
off
his sixth trip to the NCAA II National Tournament, he enters
his 18th season at BYU-Hawaii with an overall record of 323-164 for an outstanding
winning percentage of .663. He has had just one losing season in his 17-year
tenure
and led the school to an all-time best mark of 19-4 (.826) in the 2002-03 season.
He has coached four first-team All-Americans and 11 other All-American honorees.
Long
known for his excellent defensive coaching, Wagner excels on the offensive side
as well as witnessed by the Seasiders' success in recent years. The Seasiders
annually rank among the nation's leaders in field goal percentage,
three-point percentage, and free throw percentage and are frequently one of
the top scoring teams in the nation. In 2003-04
the Seasiders led the nation in field goal percentage at .524 and scored 80.0
points per game following up a 2002-03 season in which they scored 85.7 points
per game and shot .509 for the year. Additionally, he has coached players that
were among the nation's elite in scoring including national scoring champ
David
Evans (27.9 in 1999-2000), national runner-up Alexus Foyle (26.7 in 2002-03),
and Jake Chrisman who finished eighth nationally in 2003-04 with
23.3 points per game and in the top 20 in 2004-05 with 21.0 points per game.
Wagner
also began serving in the fall of 2003 as the athletic director at BYU-Hawaii,
a post he also held from 1992-2000. As athletic director he helped orchestrate
the school’s transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division II in 1998, a move that
required a “provisional status” period and an increase in the number of varsity
sports being offered at the school from four to eight. Wagner was also instrumental
in the formation of the new Pacific West Conference (PacWest) which began operations
in 1997 and quickly established itself as one of the stronger conferences in the
division by claiming three national championships in 1998.
Wagner's
Record |
| Year | W-L | Pct. | Conf.
| Place | Rank |
| 1990-91 | 18-12 | .600 | | | |
| 1991-92 | 28-7 | .800 | | | |
| 1992-93 | 14-16 | .467 | | | |
| 1993-94 | 22-10 | .688 | | | |
| 1994-95 | 19-12 | .613 | | | |
| 1995-96 | 24-7 | .774 | | | |
| 1996-97 | 21-8 | .724 | | | |
| 1997-98 | 19-8 | .704 | | | |
| 1998-99 | 14-14 | .500 | 7-7 | 3rd | |
| 1999-2000 | 19-9 | .679 | 11-3 | 1st | |
| 2000-01 | 14-13 | .519 | 8-10 | 6th | |
| 2001-02 | 19-10 | .655 | 10-5 | 1st | |
| 2002-03 | 19-4 | .826 | 13-2 | 1st | 12 |
| 2003-04 | 23-6 | .793 | 12-3 | 1st | 25 |
| 2004-05 | 16-9 | .640 | 11-4 | 2nd | |
| 2005-06 | 14-11 | .560 | 6-6 | 2nd | |
| 2006-07 |
20-8 |
.714 |
12-3 |
2nd |
|
| Totals
(17 yrs.) | 323-164 | .663 | 90-43 | | |
Wagner
came to BYU-Hawaii in 1990 after proving himself as a high school and junior college
coach. He started at Lehi (Utah) High School in 1980 after graduating from BYU
in 1979 with a bachelor’s in physical education. At Lehi, he guided his teams
to two state championships before leaving in 1985. Along the way, in 1982, he
earned his master’s degree in physical education and coaching from the University
of Utah. He then went to Dixie Junior College in St. George, Utah, where he compiled
a record of 126-36 (.778) and had his team ranked in the NJCAA top twenty in four
of his five years there.
At BYU-Hawaii, Wagner quickly established
himself at the NAIA level by posting an 18-12 mark his first year and guiding
the Seasiders to the NAIA final four in just his second season at the helm.
Having
now completed his seventeenth year as head coach, he has established himself
as
one of the top coaches in the country with an outstanding winning record and
four trips to the NAIA National Tournament as well as six trips to the NCAA
II National
Tournament in the last eight years.
| Wagner File |
| Years at BYUH |
17
|
| Overall Record |
323-164
(.663)
|
| PacWest Record |
90-43 (.677)
|
| NCAA II Tournament
Record |
1-6 (.143)
|
| NAIA Tournament
Record |
5-4 (.556)
|
| Conference Titles |
Six
|
| NCAA II Tournaments |
Six
|
| NAIA Tournaments |
Four
|
| Coach of the
Year Awards |
Five
|
| NCAA II All-Americans |
Three
|
| NAIA All-Americans |
Nine
|
| B.A. Brigham
Young |
1979
|
| M.A. Utah |
1982
|
| Junior College Record (Dixie) |
126-36
(.778)
|
| Overall College Record |
449-200
(.692)
|
| High School Record (Lehi) |
64-39 (.621)
|
| Overall Coaching Record |
513-239
(.682)
|
Born and raised in
Chihuahua, Mexico, where he participated in numerous sports, Wagner has had a
long involvement in athletics. He played freshman basketball and club soccer at
BYU in Provo and played basketball and football at Eastern Arizona College in
Thatcher. In between, he took time to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints to Monterrey, Mexico. He continues to serve his Church
as the ward mission leader in the Laie Seventh Ward.
Coach
Wagner is ideally suited to be the man that leads Seasider basketball to the next
level. With his cross-cultural background he can, as he says, “relate to kids
who are travelling to a different country or into a different culture to attend
school.” This is especially important at BYU-Hawaii with its vast diversity of
students and student/athletes. He has coached players from Japan, Brazil, New
Zealand, Samoa and many other exotic places.
In speaking of
BYU-Hawaii basketball Wagner says, “I think that BYU-Hawaii should always be one
of the best teams in the Pacific West Conference, and since the conference is
one of the best in the country it follows that we should be among the best teams
in the nation. I really think we have positioned ourselves with some of our young
players in the program to be in position to contend for the conference championship
regularly.”
Wagner also understands that there is more to basketball,
and all sports, than just winning. “Having all your players graduate and find
good careers is very important,” he says. “One of the things I enjoy most about
my job is seeing an athlete come back and learning that he is truly successful
in life. Success off the court is even more important than success on the court.”
Wagner’s
success off the court shows up best and brightest at home. He is married to the
former Lisa Taylor of Provo, Utah. Lisa was honored in 1999 as Hawaii’s Young
Mother of the Year and says the support she receives from Ken played an important
part in receiving the award. The Wagners have two daughters, Jenna and Kelsee,
and two sons, Kenyon and Gehrig.
