Hall of Fame
Bruce Wheeler led the baseball program at Southeastern Massachusetts University/UMass Dartmouth for 33 seasons from 1972 through 2004 after coaching at the high school level in Vermont.
Wheeler amassed an overall mark of 746-530-4 (.584) on the diamond while guiding his squads to nine NCAA Division III tournament appearances, eight trips to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament and four appearances in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national tournament. Following the LEC’s addition of baseball as a championship sport in 1997, Wheeler led the Corsairs to five conference postseason berths and what is to-date the program’s only Little East tournament title in 2000.
Wheeler's 1975 team set a school record with 32 victories that spring, as the Corsairs eclipsed the 20-win plateau on 22 occasions that includes 30 or more wins in five campaigns. He mentored a total of nine All-Americans that include first-team American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) honorees Mark Chicoine, Rod Correia, John Graham and Pat Schultz.
Wheeler's success wasn't limited to the baseball diamond during his tenure at the University, as he amassed 133 victories while serving as the Corsairs’ men's basketball coach from 1972-83. he led then-SMU to a berth in the 1976 NCAA tournament after compiling a 17-9 mark, and his 1978-79 squad earned a trip to the ECAC tournament.
Wheeler was inducted into the UMass Dartmouth Corsair Hall of Fame in 2003, and was enshrined in the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Hall of Fame in 2019. He received NEIBA's Jack Butterfield Award in recognition of his distinguished service and promotion of college baseball in 1997.