‘It is home’: Northeastern’s Baylee Wissler signs to play golf at IU East

FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. — Billy Mullin feels old, “ancient,” actually.

The fifth-year head coach of IU East women’s golf was at Northeastern High School Dec. 1. He was celebrating the signing of the newest member of his team, Northeastern senior Baylee Wissler, daughter of Brian Wissler, whom Mullin coached as an assistant of IU East’s men’s basketball program in the 1990s.

Mullin has coached siblings and cousins before, but signing a former player’s kid really let him know he’s getting up there.

“I was a dumb young coach back then,” Mullin said, admitting he was probably too young to coach at the time. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”

He’s gained some experience and wisdom since then, enough to not let one of the area’s best golfers over the last four years take her talents outside Wayne County.

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Baylee Wissler is a four-time Northeastern team MVP, three-time All-Tri-Eastern Conference honoree, three-time All-Region Team member and Wayne County’s 2021 and 2022 individual champion.

She’s been committed to IU East, where she plans to study nursing, for a while now. Exactly when? The excitement of her signing day blurred that memory a bit.

“I made my commitment right after my season,” Wissler said before second-guessing herself. “No, I think it was during my season. Or a little before. I don’t remember.”

It doesn’t matter. What does matter is she finally made it official, and Northeastern’s cafeteria was full of people to watch it happen.

“I did not expect all these people to come,” Wissler said. “It was amazing. I saw so many people that made me happy. It just meant a lot to me that they were all here. I loved it.”

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Wissler started playing golf at 7 years old at First Tee in Richmond. Brian Wissler said her first love was softball — she batted .345 for the Knights as a junior last spring — but she “got the bug for golf” around 11 or 12 and took off from there.

“My first year of high school golf was so great, and I loved the team,” Baylee Wissler said. “Playing softball all these years — I love it, and I will always love it, but I think golf just kind of nuzzled its way in there and took over.”

It was during her second year of high school golf when “something clicked” and Wissler believed she could take her game to the collegiate level. She qualified for regionals as an individual, and she did the same thing the following year as a junior.

While she enjoyed her time at regionals both years, something was missing. It was Wissler’s biggest goal of her senior season to get her team to regionals with her.

“It’s just not the same without your team,” Wissler said. “It’s pretty much ending your season at sectionals but just playing one more for fun. I just wanted my team there with me to make me feel better and not as nervous. I’m just glad they got to experience it with me because I know they loved it, too … It was like a whole piece of the puzzle was not there.”

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By the end of sectionals last fall, Wissler had added that final piece. She was going to regionals for the third straight year, and the Knights qualified as a team for the first time in program history.

That was the cherry on top of a “stellar” high school career. Brian Wissler, who coached Northeastern this season, said it looked like his daughter had more fun this year than the previous three, and her team’s success had a lot to do with that. Plus, it took some of the spotlight off her.

“She’s very humble. She doesn’t like to tell anybody anything, but Dad does,” Brian Wissler said with a smile. “Her dad will tell everybody.”

The talent. The leadership. The humility. The fact that she’s a hometown kid. It all added up to IU East, and Mullin was not going to let Baylee Wissler slip through his fingertips.

“The IU East I went to was built on area kids like myself,” Mullin said. “I want to give area kids an opportunity, and she fit the bill in a lot of different ways, both academically and athletically. I thought she was a great fit for us.”

Lucky for him, so did Wissler.

“Billy came along and was so nice from the start, and the team was welcoming,” Wissler said. “It just felt like home. It is home.”

Zach Piatt is a reporter for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Northeastern’s Baylee Wissler signs to play golf at IU East