Wheeler, a former teammate of Burke's on the 2009 Final Four team at the University of Louisville, comes to Upstate from Bellarmine University where she served as the assistant women's basketball coach for the past four seasons.
In her first year with the Knights in 2016-17, Wheeler helped guide the team to an NCAA Tournament berth as well as its first back-to-back 20-win season in 12 years. Bellarmine made the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in all of Wheeler's four seasons with the program, including an appearance in the title game in 2018-19. Additionally, Wheeler coached five All-GLVC selections.
Prior to her stint at Bellarmine, Wheeler was an assistant coach at her high school alma mater, DuPont Manual, and helped lead the team to a 7th Region Championship and an appearance in the state tournament. As an assistant coach at Western Kentucky University in 2013-14, she helped the Hilltoppers to a Sun Belt Conference Title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Before that, she returned to U of L as a graduate assistant under head coach Jeff Walz in 2012-13 and helped the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament Finals for the second time in program history.
As a player at Louisville, Wheeler earned First Team All-Big East nods her senior year in 2008-09. She led the Cardinals to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament championship game that season where she recorded a double-double against UConn and was named to the Raleigh Regional All-Tournament Team. Her junior year, she earned Second-Team All-Big East honors and was named to the Big East All-Tournament Team.
Wheeler earned her psychology degree from U of L and was selected in the third round of the 2009 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars. She earned her Master of Health Science in the spring of 2021 from Bellarmine University. Wheeler went on to play professionally overseas in Luxembourg, Germany, and Puerto Rico. She married her husband, Gary, in May 2019 and the couples first child, Gary III, was born in February 2021.
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