Casey Wyllie Named Interim Men's Basketball Coach

Olney Central College has named Casey Wyllie as interim Men’s Basketball Coach following the departure of Mike Burris, who accepted an assistant’s position at the University of Indianapolis.

“I’m really excited for this opportunity,” Wyllie said. “It has always been a goal of mine to become a head coach one day. We have a great group of guys coming back and I am excited to build on the foundation Coach Burris has laid over the last 15 years.”

Wyllie is looking forward to the upcoming season as he has eight returning players from last year’s 24-win campaign.

“It is really rare in junior college basketball to have that many returning players,” he added. “Three of the eight started so we have a ton of experience coming back.”

Sophomores include Elijah Farr, J.J. Kalakon, Cobie Montgomery, C.E. Talton, Tucker Hayes, Cayman Hayes, Joseph Dalton and D.J. Haynes.

“We’ve also signed four players, all from successful high school programs,” Wyllie added.

They include Tahj Patterson of St. Louis, Mo., Shilo Bowles of Milwaukee, Wis., Keydrian Jones of Collinsville and Trey Woolsey of Oregon, who scored 1,800 career points in high school.

In the coming month, Wyllie plans to sign three additional players, finalize the season schedule and hire an assistant coach.

Wyllie joined the OCC coaching staff in June 2019 after serving two years as the Director of Basketball Operations at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

During his time at SIUE, Wyllie was part of back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Tournament appearances, which was the first time the Cougars had made the tournament since the 2014-2015 season.

Prior to SIUE, Wyllie had a brief coaching stop at Vincennes University.

Before Vincennes, Wyllie served as a graduate assistant coach for Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La., from 2015-2017. He earned his master’s degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Administration of Sport and Physical Activity from Louisiana Tech in November 2017.

Wyllie earned his bachelor’s degree in Workforce Education from SIU at Carbondale in 2015. During his time at SIU, Wyllie gained valuable coaching experience as the head freshmen boys’ basketball coach at Benton High School. He finished with a combined record of 43-23, including a 21-0 record in his third season.

Wyllie earned an associate’s degree from John A. Logan College in 2012. During his time at John A. Logan, he coached at Elverado High School in Elkville during the 2011-12 season.

A native of Dwight, Ill., Wyllie is a 2010 graduate of Dwight Township High School. During his senior year, Dwight finished the season with a 28-4 record and made a sectional finals appearance.