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Mike Llanas

Mike Llanas

After a highly decorated 14-year career at Owens Community College in Ohio, Mike Llanas enters his third season as the head coach of the Wheeling University women's basketball program in 2020-21.
 
Llanas’ Cardinals showed significant improvement in year two, which ended with an appearance in the Mountain East Tournament Quarterfinals. Notably, Lilly Ritz became the first Cardinal women's basketball player to earn an All-America honor since 1985 after she established multiple school records and led Division II with 16.0 rebounds per game. Ritz tied the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball single-game record with 36 rebounds in the team’s 75-72 win over West Virginia State.
 
Prior to Wheeling, Llanas led Owens C.C. to a 351-103 overall record (.773), eight Ohio Community College Athletic Conference titles and four National Collegiate Junior Athletic Association (NJCAA) Tournament appearances during his tenure at Owens. He guided the Express to the 2016 and 2018 NJCAA Elite Eight and the Final Four in 2014. His team also registered the school's first perfect regular-season finish, when the team went 30-0 during the 2016-17 campaign.
   
During his Owens career, Llanas produced a 156-30 OCCAC league record. His teams averaged 25 wins and produced six Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-Americans, two NJCAA All-Americans, eight Academic All-Americans and numerous All-OCCAC players. Llanas had his team in the NJCAA Top 20 in each of his final six seasons and his squads also ranked in the NJCAA Top-25 in three-point field goals made per game.
 
In 2017-18, the seven-time OCCAC Coach of the Year and four-time Regional Coach of the Year captured his eighth league title with a 26-6 record. The Express went on to win the Region XII District I Tournament and advanced to the NJCAA Division II National Championship, where it reached the national quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
 
Prior to taking over the Owens Express reigns in 2003, Llanas guided the Ohio Rockers AAU team from 1999-2004. The Rockers won six tournament championships and the 2001 AYBT National Championship. He also has scholastic head coaching experience with Elmwood High School (1995-97) in Bloomdale, Ohio.
 
The Sienna Heights University graduate, is married to Kelly Llanas and father of three children – Andrew (20), Cora (13) and Emilio (8).