App State Volleyball head coach Chad Sutton announced the hiring of Brian Wheatley as the assistant coach on Feb. 3, 2026. Coming to the High Country, Wheatley has a wealth of volleyball coaching experience across NCAA Division I, club, high school, and international levels for the Mountaineers to draw from.

Wheatley comes to the High Country after serving as the head varsity coach for the 2024 and 2025 seasons at Auburn High School. In his two seasons at the helm of the program, he led the Tigers to a pair of perfect region records. 

On the international stage, Wheatley served as a USA Volleyball National Team Development Program Coach in 2024. He also was the Global Challenge U23 head coach in Pula, Croatia in 2023 and 2024. 

For 30 seasons, he was the head varsity coach at Venice High School, amassing a record of 775-227 while in Florida. Wheatley guided the Indians to six state titles, 13 final four appearances, and 28 district champion titles. He also led the team to their first playoff qualification and 28 appearances that followed. While at the helm of the program, the team finished ranked among the nation’s top 20 for multiple seasons. Academically, he guided his players to numerous volleyball scholarships at the collegiate level. Wheatley was tabbed as one of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) High School Girls Coaches of the Year in 2023 and collected five Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year accolades. Additionally. Wheatley was inducted into the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame - Florida Region in 2018 as well as the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017.  At least 17 of Wheatley’s former players from his time at Venice High School have pursued volleyball coaching positions.

Wheatley, who competed on the men’s volleyball team at San Jose State,  started his coaching journey as an undergraduate assistant coach at Auburn while he pursued a Bachelor of Science in physical education. He later earned a Master of Education at National Louis University.