PREP VOLLEYBALL: Wheatley moves on after 30 seasons as Venice head coach

VENICE — One of the country’s best high school coaches is moving on from Venice High after a decorated three decades at the helm.

Volleyball head coach Brian Wheatley is stepping down from his position after 30 seasons with the Indians, to become head coach at Auburn University High School in Alabama.

Wheatley leaving behind a legacy that won’t soon be forgotten by the school or the community.

“The community’s been unbelievable to us,” Wheatley said. “We raised our family here. People have been so over the top to us over the years. We’re Venetians, and we aren’t leaving permanently. We’ll rent out our house here until we become snowbirds.”

Wheatley — who first accepted the job right out of college at 23 years old — brought a winning culture to not only the volleyball program, but the entire athletic department at Venice High.

During his 30 years roaming courtside with the Indians, Wheatley went 721-203, won 28 district championships, 14 regional championships and made eight state championship appearances. He and his teams would go on to win six state titles in 1998, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2022.

Wheatley’s program helped nearly 100 players play at the college level.

“(Wheatley) won the first state championship ever at Venice,” Venice athletic director Pete Dombroski said. “He started it off. He began this whole state championship run that we’ve had. He’s worked hard and put it together. When I first got to Venice, if we won a district championship, it was a big deal. Now, the goal for really every sport at Venice is to get to a state championship.”

According to Wheatley, leaving wasn’t an expectation. He said he would only move on from Venice for one other high school in the country — Auburn University High School.

The Wheatley family bleeds Auburn blue and orange, having all attended the university in Alabama.

Brian, his wife, Lisa, and his daughter, Brooke, are all Auburn alumni. Brian’s son, Luke, will be a senior at Auburn in the fall.

“Anybody that knows us knows that we love Auburn,” Wheatley said. “We’ve always wanted to get back to Auburn at some point. We just didn’t know when it would happen. They just so happened to have an elementary school principal job and the volleyball coaching job open up there, and God just continued to open doors for it to happen.”

The Auburn University High School volleyball program has posted sub-.500 seasons in three of the last four years, as it looks to change the trajectory of the team with Wheatley taking over.

“The high school’s overall athletic program is one of the best in the state,” Wheatley said. “They’re trying to elevate the volleyball program from where it’s been. I had a three-hour interview with the superintendent, and a two-hour interview with the athletic director and principal. That’s how serious they were about this.”

The conversations with his team, the Venice administration and his coaches weren’t easy to navigate, but there’s a lot to be proud of as he moves on.

“I loved the passion behind having this job for so long,” Wheatley said. “I told the administration that part of their legacy is making a girls’ sport really important. How many other volleyball games do you see 1,000 people fill the gym at? Or 1,500 at a playoff game? That was always motivation for me to get the program to the very highest it could be.”

With Wheatley departing, the program will stay in-house for its next head coach.

Long-time assistant coach Jay Lanham — who has been on Wheatley’s staff since 2003 — will be the program’s new leader next fall.

“It means a lot to me that the school is handing the program off to someone who has been with me for over 20 years,” Wheatley said. “He loves the program and cares for those players as much as I do. He’s one of the best coaches in the state, he’s going to give the program a new voice, and I think he’ll thrive. He knows his stuff.”

While the move is bittersweet for Wheatley, his future aspirations of coaching at the next level also hinge on taking over at Auburn University High.

“I’m excited for the challenge,” Wheatley said. “I have hopes of coaching at Auburn University one day, and this might make that a possibility a little bit sooner. This just seemed like the right time, and of course, I’m not getting any younger either.”