Marty Wilson Joins Men's Hoops Staff

Marty Wilson Joins Men’s Basketball Staff

Bears Receive Boost From Former Pepperdine Head Coach

BERKELEY – The California men’s basketball staff is receiving another boost of veteran coaching presence with the addition of Marty Wilson, head coach Wyking Jones announced today.

“I’m really excited to welcome Marty to our staff. His knowledge of the game, experience and energy is what excites me the most about being a part of what we are building,” Jones said.

Wilson joins the Golden Bears as an assistant coach after serving seven seasons at the helm for his alma mater, Pepperdine. He helped transform the Waves from a 10-win team in his first season to back-to-back 18-win seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16, giving them their first consecutive winning seasons since 2001-03. Pepperdine finished fourth in the West Coast Conference in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and the 2015 squad allowed just 61.6 points and finished the season second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.0 percent).

“His experience as a head coach is invaluable, and from a culture standpoint I couldn’t have found anyone that embodies our family aspect better than Marty,” Jones added.

With Wilson’s tutelage, Brendan Lane was named the 2014 WCC Defensive Player of the Year, Stacy Davis earned the conference’s Newcomer of the Year award in 2013, and 13 players earned All-WCC selections. Wilson coached Golden Bear great Lamond Murray’s son, Lamond Murray Jr., to the WCC scoring crown in 2016-17, when he averaged a career-best 21.4 points per game.

Off the court, Wilson helped guide 21 of his 22 student-athletes who exhausted their eligibility to degrees. Malte Kramer was the program’s first Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American and co-valedictorian at the university.

Prior to becoming head coach in 2011, Wilson served as the associate head coach for the Waves under Tom Asbury beginning in 2008. He rejoined Pepperdine after coaching stints at San Diego (1996-98), UC Santa Barbara (1998-2004) and Utah (2004-08).

As the top assistant under Bob Williams in Santa Barbara, Wilson helped the Gauchos to a divisional title in 1999, a Big West Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2002, and a Big West regular-season title and NIT berth in 2003.

At Utah, Wilson helped head coach Jim Boylen guide the Utes to a 29-6 record en route to the Mountain West regular-season title and NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. The Utes finished the season ranked 18th nationally.

Following his graduation from Pepperdine in 1989, Wilson spent a year as an assistant at his high school, Simi Valley, then rejoined the Waves in 1990. During his first six seasons on the bench, Pepperdine earned NCAA Tournament berths in 1991, 1992 and 1994, and took three WCC regular-season titles (1991, 1992, 1993) plus a trio of WCC tournament titles (1991, 1992, 1994). After head coach Tony Fuller resigned in 1995-96, Wilson took over as interim head coach and guided the Waves to an upset of a Steve Nash-led Santa Clara team before Wilson departed for San Diego.

Wilson spent 21 total seasons in Malibu, compiling an impressive record that started with his time as a student-athlete. He ended his playing career for the Waves ranked fifth on the all-time assists list with 342, helping Pepperdine to the NCAA Tournament in both 1984-85 and 1985-86.

Following back-to-back season ending injuries in 1986-87 and 1987-88, Wilson returned to the lineup as the starting point guard to lead the Waves to a 20-13 record and NIT berth in his final season. Pepperdine posted a 97-58 (.626) record during his five seasons as a student-athlete.

Wilson graduated from Pepperdine in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in communications. A native of Pacoima, Calif., Wilson was a prep standout at Simi Valley High School and was named the Marmonte League's Most Valuable Player in his senior season.

Keith Brown, who served as interim assistant coach while Theo Robertson was on personnel leave, remains on staff as Cal’s director of operations. Robertson and the university separated mutually earlier this month.