Michael Wells, a familiar face around Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for decades, finished his fourth season with the CMS men’s basketball program in 2025-26 and now serves as the program’s Associate Head Coach.
During Wells’ tenure, CMS has experienced the winningest four-year stretch in program history, compiling an 86-25 overall record over four seasons (23-5, 20-8, 22-7, 21-5). The Stags have made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history, won back-to-back SCIAC Tournament championships, and advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time ever, while establishing a consistent national presence with Wells serving as the program’s top assistant. Wells has compiled a 20-4 record as an acting head coach at Occidental and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The 2025-26 season marked another historic campaign, as CMS shared the SCIAC Regular Season Championship, set a program record with 16 consecutive wins to open the year, and earned the first at-large NCAA Tournament bid in program history.
In his first season (2022-23), CMS went 21-5, earned a Top 25 national ranking for much of the year, and finished No. 2 in NCAA Division III in field goal percentage. The following season, the Stags captured the SCIAC Tournament title and advanced to the Sweet 16. In 2024-25, CMS repeated as conference tournament champions, earning road wins over both regular season co-champions in dramatic fashion.
Wells plays a significant role in all aspects of the program, including recruiting, on-court teaching, player development, game planning, and building a culture centered on accountability and daily improvement. He has also been instrumental in recruiting and developing high-level academic student-athletes from across the country.
Wells has a strong track record of player development at the highest level of Division III, coaching First Team All-American and SCIAC Player of the Year Josh Angle, along with multiple All-Conference performers. He has also helped recruit and develop several impact graduate transfers, including All-American AJ Rohosy—who went on to become the starting center at Stanford—along with Will King (starter on a Sweet 16 team), CJ Jones (Second Team All-SCIAC), and Neil Owens (Second Team All-SCIAC). In addition, Wells has coached two point guards who led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio: Ryan Kaneshiro at Occidental and Brian Kenyon at CMS.
Prior to CMS, Wells spent nearly a decade at Occidental College, where he served as Associate Athletic Director and Associate Head Coach. During his coaching tenure, he helped lead the Tigers to back-to-back SCIAC Tournament appearances, including a championship game appearance in 2019. His teams ranked among the nation’s best defensively, finishing in the top 10 in multiple categories in 2017-18 and top 25 in 2018-19.
During the 2020-21 pandemic season, Wells served as head coach at Villanova Preparatory School, leading the program to its first winning season in a decade and its first playoff victory in 15 years.
Wells has also served as a coach with the SCIAC Senior All-Star team on three occasions, traveling internationally with teams competing in Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia, and Spain.
In addition to his collegiate work, Wells currently coaches the top academic teams for BTI on the Hoop Group Circuit and serves as the director of CMS Basketball’s winter and summer camps, while also leading clinics and individual player development.
Wells graduated from Dominican University of California in 2011, where he was a team captain and helped lead the Penguins to a CalPac Championship. He earned his master’s degree in organizational leadership from Woodbury University in 2014.
Wells is married to Nika Wells, who works in the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement at Claremont McKenna College. They have one newborn son, Mason, and reside in Upland, California.
