Longtime coach Mark Wheeler named athletic director at Orleans
Mark Wheeler retired about a year ago. After decades of working as a plant manager and coaching, he was ready to tone things down a little bit.
He’d still serve as an assistant coach for the Orleans boys’ basketball team, sure. He’d help out as a substitute teacher once in a while, it was something to do. He’d make himself available to the Orleans baseball team’s young coaching staff, imparting wisdom as needed.
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Now, he’s added some extra responsibilities to his plate to help liven up his retirement. As Orleans heads into the 2022-23 school year, he’ll be its athletic director.
Wheeler takes over for Tom Bradley — who has retired from his duties outside of being Orleans’ boys’ basketball coach — and his background will be key for him as he moves into his new position. He’s worked with scheduling before in his role as a plant manager and the network he’s built through 15 years as a baseball coach and 20 years as a basketball coach will behoove him when it comes to communicating with officials and other administrators.
He’ll be doing things he’s always done, just with a new title and new responsibilities. It’s exactly the sort of thing he was looking for.
“I still kind of wanted another challenge in life and I obviously wasn’t going to do anything at a school other than Orleans,” Wheeler said. “It’s something that kind of inspired me, to see if I could help our athletic department and all of our athletes, that kind of thing. I enjoy working with the school, I enjoy working with the kids, and it was just the kind of challenge that I felt like I wanted right now.”
Bulldogs primed for success under Wheeler
As Wheeler takes leadership of the Orleans athletic department, there’s plenty to be excited about. The Bulldogs’ boys’ basketball team was one of the best in the state last season and should continue to be in the coming years, Orleans just sent an athlete to the IHSAA Track and Field State Finals and there’s a bevy of young athletes at the school who have shown promise.
“Our boys’ programs are on a real uptick right now with some excellent athletes, not only in basketball but in cross country and our track program was very successful this year for a small school,” Wheeler said.
“Our girls’ programs are very young and took some lumps, but we’ve got a lot of young kids coming up and we’re excited about the progress that they’re going to make.”
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Because of all that, Wheeler is ready to get to work. He hopes the success Orleans has had will breed more success and so on.
“We’ve got an excellent coaching staff in place and I think we’ve got a lot of good young kids. We should see a lot of success in the next few years,” Wheeler said. “Hopefully that’ll build on the younger kids, the elementary-aged kids, and it builds and builds. I’m very excited about where we might be able to get to in the next few years.”
Orleans 'a special place' for Wheeler
A big reason Wheeler was willing to take on the role of athletic director was that Orleans needed him to do so. His long relationship with the school and town played a pivotal role in his decision. His son, Murphy, being a teacher and coach at the school also factored into his wanting to get more involved with the athletic department.
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“That’s really exciting to me, getting to work with Murphy. He coaches junior-high sports for us and he teaches there. That was big in my decision, getting to spend a lot of time with him,” Wheeler said. “Obviously I’m from there, I’ve worked in Orleans my entire life, everything I know is there and I coached there for so many years so Orleans is a special place for me.
“I want to do everything I could possibly do to help Orleans be successful.”
Contact Times-Mail sports reporter Auston Matricardi via e-mail at amatricardi@tmnews.com or on Twitter at @amatricardiTM.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Longtime coach Mark Wheeler named athletic director at Orleans
