Kevin Wilch enters his eleventh year as an assistant coach at Azusa Pacific, where he oversees the academic growth and development of the men's basketball program under head coach Justin Leslie. The 2020-21 season marks his 24th year of involvement in coaching and athletic administration.
Under his guidance, Azusa Pacific has earned seven consecutive National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Awards, which are bestowed upon men's basketball programs which post a team cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Azusa Pacific is the only program in NCAA Division II's West region to claim the NABC team award the past seven years, and the Cougars are also the lone Division II program to win a conference championship along with the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award.
Over the same seven-year stretch of claiming the team award, Azusa Pacific has also produced 23 selections to the NABC Honors Court, recognizing individual student-athletes for academic excellence.
Wilch also had served as a wide receivers coach and director of football operations at Riverside City College for eight years, helping lead the Tigers to a 56-10 record from 2010-2015. From 2009-12, he was a special projects and compliance assistant at Long Beach State, and he has served as a Big West Conference representative for several conference and NCAA regional tournaments.
Wilch was an assistant coach for three years before serving as head coach at his alma mater Whittier Christian High School, where as a player he led the Heralds to the school's first-ever CIF championship. As the head coach at WCHS for the 1999-2000 season, he guided the Heralds to a CIF quarterfinals appearance.
In addition to his coaching experience, Wilch has built a successful career in business development, starting and building businesses through consultation in operations management, personnel management, sales and marketing.
Wilch graduated from Biola University in 1994 with a degree in intercultural studies and sociology, and he completed a master's in leadership development from Biola in 2001. His brother Ron ran cross country and track at Azusa Pacific, and brother Steve was a soccer player who also graduated from Azusa Pacific.
Wilch and his wife Darlene have three daughters and reside in La Habra Heights.
