Bubba knows basketball: The story behind the Hornets' second-year coach begins and ends in Advance

ADVANCE, Mo. -- As Bubba Wheetley looks back on his playing days and life in Advance, Missouri, he gives a big smile and a shake of the head.

It's a telling sign of just how fortunate Wheetley feels his journey with the Hornets' basketball program has been.

From playing under legendary Advance coach Carrol Cookson in the late 1970s to just being a casual fan, Advance boys basketball has been a constant in Wheetley's life for nearly 35 years.

"I graduated here and I played here under Carrol Cookson," Wheetley said. "I followed Carrol when he was here, when he left and went to Twin Rivers and when he came back to Advance. You know, I've been here most of my life, and I've always followed them year after year. I have some great memories of watching some great Advance teams and players go through here, but I never did go anywhere else to coach. This has always been where I want to be."

The fact that the 56-year-old Wheetley never had a full-time coaching position before he took the job at Advance makes it all the more improbable that the second-year coach is leading Advance to its first state final four since 2006 today in Columbia, Missouri.

But for the last three decades, Wheetley, who owns his own business making truck bed covers, didn't have to be employed by the school to be considered a mentor. Past and present players can't seem to remember exactly when they first saw him. To them, it seemed as if Wheetley could almost always be found hanging around an Advance practice after school.

"He's just always been there," said Advance graduate and former point guard Lane Below, who remembers Wheetley helping coach his junior high teams in seventh and eighth grade. "Can't remember a time when he wasn't. He would get there before us and still be there when we left, and then he'd be there again the next day. He didn't have to actually be on the coaching staff, we still considered him a coach."

For all the years he spent following and helping the Hornets, Wheetley wasn't on the official coaching roster until five years ago when he was brought on to help an up and coming first-year coach.

"I got started, I guess five years ago when they hired Andrew Halford out of college," Wheetley said. "They wanted me to help him because I would help out with these guys when they were coming up as just little kids. I would let them in the old gym when they wanted to shoot and play and all that. You see, I may have never actually been their coach, but I knew what they could do. I saw how they were shooting and what they needed to be coached on a little more. I got asked by a parent to help coach them through the winter after their last junior high season was over. I said, 'Sure,' and that's kind of how I got into it and it just went up from there."

Wheetley said he didn't expect to ever take over the head coaching responsibilities, but when Halford left Advance to coach at Malden two years ago, Wheetley didn't hesitate to accept the offer to become the Hornets' 31st head coach in school history.

In his first two seasons with the Hornets, Wheetley has seen immediate success, leading his teams to back-to-back state quarterfinals and now a final four.

Despite his newfound success with the Hornets, Wheetley gives much of the credit to Halford for laying the foundation.

"To me, he's a big part of these kids success because he really is the one that came in here and set these kids on the right course," Wheetely said. "We did a lot of the same things then that we still do today. Andrew was great for this program."

He also credits coaching greats such as Cookson, his brother and former Scott County Central coach Ronnie Cookson and former Bernie and Notre Dame coach Paul Hale with helping him become a better coach to this day.

"Now the kids are No. 1, but the biggest thing that I think has helped us is my old coach," Wheetley said. "He's helped us tremendously here. I bet I called him two or three times a week. If I had a problem with where to put a kid, or if I needed some advice on what to do on defense, he helped me so much. He helped this program. I couldn't have done it without Carrol, his brother Ronnie and Paul Hale, too. Those three guys have really helped me. I can call those guys at any time, and I still call them. I talk to them all the time, and I have so much respect for all three coaches. Everything we do here is pretty much from them."

While the accolades and the success of the team have been rewarding for Wheetley and his players, he admitted that things haven't always gone so smoothly.

"I wish I'd known this at first, but now I know you've got to handle each kid differently," Wheetley said. "Some kids you can get on a little more than you can others. But at first, some kids couldn't handle that. But basically, that's it. If I know how to handle each kid in my own way and they're doing everything that I ask of them, then things are bound to be working out. And I think we've seen that with this team."

Wheetley's players had to make adjustments as well. They were used to him being an assistant, but when his coaching duties changed, so did his demeanor.

"He's been the assistant coach for awhile, so I've known him, but he looked like a drill sergeant to me, especially when he became the varsity coach," Preston Wuebker said. "I don't know if it was me being a freshman or what, but he's always looked like he could get a little mean and he definitely did at first."

Other players, like Advance's lone senior starter Dalton Wilson, weren't skeptical of Wheetley and knew he was the right choice to be Advance's coach immediately.

"When I first saw him it was way back when at the old gym and I was real little," Wilson said. "But I always knew he was a winner. You look at him and he tries everything to win. When I learned he was going to be the actual head coach it was awesome. I was ecstatic. I didn't want anyone besides Bubba because he gets the most out of everyone and he wants to win more than any of us, I guarantee it."

Sophomore Dawson Mayo knew it too and added that Wheetley has helped everyone on the team improve their game in some form or another.

"I've known Bubba since the time I could about walk," Mayo said. "He and my dad were friends and played basketball together in Cape all the time, so I've known Bubba since before he even became an assistant coach here. I remember when I first started playing here my shooting was pretty awful. He's taken that and made me into a better shooter with everything that he has us do. I'm more aggressive in the paint, I now have an outside shooting game, and it's all because of Bubba."

One of the toughest tests the Hornets faced was the loss of many of their key players to graduation just before Wheetley took over in 2013. Wheetley said many people thought the season was lost before it had even started. However, the Hornets made it to a Class 2 quarterfinal before losing to Thayer on a buzzer-beater.

"Yeah, we lost, but I had such a good leader in Lane and he was the leader that this team needed," Wheetley said. "He had those kids in this gym with me. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have done what we did. But those other kids bought in and like I said, I think our success started with that group right there."

Below led Advance with 15 points in his final game with the Hornets. Today, he attributes his own success to the leadership Wheetley showed him and his teammates during their postseason run a season ago. Below, who just finished his freshman season at Three Rivers College also finds time to give back to his old school, working with some of the Hornets when he has time.

"It's just something special here. I really respect Bubba and really look up to that guy," Below said. "He puts in all the time and dedication in the world. I also like all these guys. They were all here last year when we were playing and I feel like I've learned a lot over at Three Rivers, and I just want to help them as much as possible."

The Hornets were considered underdogs again at the beginning of this season, with a younger team and a lot less outside shooting, and still may be in a semifinal against undefeated Meadville.

However, if his past two seasons have taught him anything, Wheetley knows that Advance can never be counted out in big games.

"Before this year started we lost that big, good group with size and some good shooters, and we talked about how a lot of people thought we weren't going to be very good," Wheetley said. "But you know, I could see something in those kids. I thought we would be a lot better than people were giving us credit for. I'm not saying I thought we'd go to the quarterfinals this year, but I knew they wanted to win. They wanted to prove something. And now they have, but we're not done yet. This team trusts me, and I trust them. It's a dream come true to be in this spot. Never thought it would happen, but I'm proud to be here and I want us to just play our best for this school and our community."