Art Wilmore
Art Wilmore is in his third year as the PLNU associate head coach for the men's and women's tennis teams. He is also an assistant athletic director in charge of athletic ministries.
Prior to his current duties, Wilmore spent 38 years coaching men's basketball, including six at PLNU where he compiled a 104-89 overall record. His PLNU teams earned two trips to the NAIA National Tournament (2003, 2008). In addition, he mentored five NAIA All-Americans, three NAIA Scholar Athletes and nine All-GSAC players.
Before coming to Point Loma, Wilmore spent 10 seasons at San Diego Christian College (then Christian Heritage) where he finished with six seasons of 20 or more wins and claimed back-to-back National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national championships in 1997 and 1998. In 2001, the Hawks advanced to the final four in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships in Tulsa, OK, under his direction.
Wilmore’s coaching career began as the head freshman coach at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1970. One year later, he moved to Atascadero High School where his teams participated in five C.I.F. playoffs with his 1974 team winning the C.I.F. Championship. From 1980-1989 he was the head coach at Walla Walla Community College in Washington. In his second year there he won the first divisional championship for Walla Walla in 10 years and placed second in the entire NWAACC championships. At Walla Walla, he averaged 20 wins per season his last three years. From 1989-1995, Wilmore was the number one assistant at the University of Portland in Oregon.
Following his playing career at the University of San Francisco where he earned All West Coast Conference honors in 1968, Wilmore received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While in the service, he was selected as captain of the 1970 U.S. Olympic Development Team and was a member of the World Cup Games Team that played in Sarajevo and Ljubliana, Yugoslavia. Wilmore also participated on two Armed Forces squads that won AAU Championships. He was inducted into the University of San Francisco Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Atascadero's Hall of Fame in 2007.
Wilmore and his wife, Julie, have two children and two grandchildren. Their son, Craig, went to be with the Lord at the age of 20 while daughter, Kelli, is married to Scott Simmerok. Scott and Kelli have a boy, Austin Michael, and a daughter, Courtney Joy. The Wilmores reside in Rancho Bernardo.
