BROCKPORT, N.Y. – 29 years ago, Mary Karen Wheat was a young star pitcher for the Brockport Blue Devils Softball team. Today, she enters her second year as the first-ever full-time softball head coach at SUNY Brockport. With a full year under her belt, she has the Golden Eagles in the weight room, watching film and attending leadership sessions.
Wheat took over a five-win program from the 2023 season and led the Golden Eagles to eight wins the next season. The wins don’t reflect the improvements she has made to the team. In her first year, she brought the team’s earned run average (ERA) down from 7.02 to 6.23 and raised the team’s batting average from .243 to .258.
After playing at Division I Binghamton University and boasting a 1.83 ERA over her four years as a pitcher, her playing career ended. But her passion for coaching sprouted before that.
“When I was 14 I started running summer softball camps with one of our alumni,” Wheat said. “I’ve been doing pitching lessons since I was 16 cause pitching was really my specialty.”
Wheat’s career has taken her all over. Starting with private pitching lessons in the Rochester area she gained traction and grabbed her first head coaching job at Red Jacket High School. After a few years, she then moved on to coaching at Brockport High School and while being the head coach for the Blue Devils, she also was the pitching coach at RIT. Then she moved on to be the full-time assistant coach at the University of Rochester where she won Division III assistant coach of the year.
Among her many stops, one of her most recent was as the pitching coach for the Great Britain U18 softball team.
“I make friends wherever I go,” Wheat said. “I was at a camp at U of R and sat down next to this girl named Tara Temby and we sparked a friendship. She was the assistant for U18 team and when the head coach spot opened up and she got it I was her first phone call to take over as the pitching coach.”
Her career has led her back to Brockport, it wasn’t an easy path to get here, but she got here.
“It means everything to be back in Brockport, it’s perfect honestly,” Wheat said. “I always knew that this job would open up and whenever I was asked ‘What’s next?’ I would always say I’m waiting for Brockport.”
Winning has always been a part of Wheat. She won four section titles as a player, has won two as a coach and has accolades to show. But winning isn’t the only thing she is focused on as a coach.
“Team culture is everything for me as a coach,” Wheat said. “Culture is an always evolving thing, you have a new set of kids each year and have to adjust. Our standards and our characteristics are based on what our girls help create.”
Coach Wheat appointed Christina Sakran as her assistant coach during her first year, and the two have become a great team.
“Coach Wheat and I are polar opposites but that’s what makes us work so well together,” Sakran said. “We complement each other in the best ways and we are able to relate to each and every one of our athletes. We’ve known each other for years and our friendship has grown getting to coach this program together.”
The program is already seeing a shift in mentality and is ready to see success
“Coach Wheat has come into her role and completely changed the game for every single one of her student-athletes,” Sakran said. “She’s laid the foundation for a successful program and I am so excited to see how the program develops and grows with her leadership.”
In just a year, Coach Wheat has already greatly impacted her players.
Entering her second year Coach Wheat is looking to give Brockport softball its first winning season since 2015. With a full off-season and now in the Empire 8 for their first year, the Golden Eagles look to reach heights they haven’t been to in 10 years.
