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Rockbridge County High School has named Danny Wheeler as its new head girls soccer coach. An alternative education teacher at the high school who has experience coaching soccer and track, Wheeler replaces B.J. Flack, who coached the Wildcats for the last three years before stepping down. Last spring, Flack led the Wildcats to a 5-11-0 record.
A 1986 graduate of the former Rockbridge High School in Fairfield, Wheeler has been teaching for the Rockbridge County school system since 1995, and he served as an administrator in both Roanoke city and Bath County. After high school, Wheeler studied biology, focusing on comparative anatomy and physiology, at Idaho State University, where he graduated from in 1995. He later earned a master’s degree in 2005 in educational leadership and administration from Shenandoah University.
Wheeler, who served as junior varsity soccer coach for the Wildcats a few years ago and as an assistant coach for the indoor and outdoor track and field teams, said the head coaching position appealed to him because “there was an opportunity to once again work with the development of student-athletes in a game that I love. Our female athletes are a competitive group. I’m glad to have the opportunity to work with those student- athletes, as well as the other coaches who help.”
A coach returning from last year’s squad is Jeffrey Tomlin, who will be the head JV coach and an assistant coach. Tomlin, who coached the goalkeepers and focused on defense last year, will serve as a varsity assistant coach as well. “Coach Tomlin definitely has spoken a strong interest in defensive development of the team,” said Wheeler.
Joining the coaching staff will be Carrie Dietz, a math teacher at the high school who has coached boys and girls soccer in Augusta County. Dietz will be an assistant coach for both the varsity and JV teams, and Wheeler said he and both assistant coaches will work with both the varsity and JV teams.
Looking forward to the season, which will start in March, Wheeler said he and his assistant coaches have high hopes. “As we assess the skills and abilities of our players, we will then develop a game that we will play and play well, and as we improve and reach towards competitive adequacy of that game,
