Joel Whymer joined the Wayne State University athletic staff as an assistant women's basketball coach as well as junior varsity head coach in August 2015. He concluded his third year with the Warriors in the spring of 2018.
In his three seasons at WSU, there has been 18 Academic All-GLIAC honorees, while his J.V. team has a 14-1 mark over the last two years.
In his initial season (2015-16) with the Warriors, WSU had just six returning letterwinners from the previous season, and struggled in close games losing seven contests by eight points or less, plus another two matches that went into double overtime. The team did produce five Academic All-GLIAC recipients including three on the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence squad in Tori Bellamy, Sara Ruhstorfer and Shannon Wilson.
The following year (2016-17), Wayne State had four student-athletes selected to the GLIAC All-Academic Teams in Payton Birchmeier, Jessica Murphy, Ruhstorfer and Wilson. In addition, the Junior Varsity squad won all seven of its contests after compiling a 1-4 record in 2015-16.
This past year (2017-18), WSU had nine GLIAC All-Academic honorees, including six on the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team. In addition, the Warriors had three All-GLIAC recipients in Shannon Wilson was voted to the All-GLIAC First Team and Nastassja Chambers received Second Team All-GLIAC recognition. Ja'Nae Williams was named to the All-GLIAC Defensive Team. He led the J.V. squad to a 7-1 mark, including a pair of exhibition victories.
Whymer came to the Warriors after serving the previous year (2014-15) as the head coach at St Clair County Community College (SC4) where he led the Skippers to a 25-6 overall record and a share of the Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) Eastern Conference championship with a 13-3 league mark.
He had one player named to the NJCAA All-Region XII First Team (Jasmine Parker), who also earned First Team All-MCCAA Eastern Conference accolades. Five additional players received All-MCCAA honors. Both Parker and Leah Humes were named to the NJCAA District H All-Tournament Team.
Prior to his appointment at SC4, Whymer spent two seasons as the head boys basketball coach at Marine City High School, where he was a special education teacher for five years.
Whymer is a 2010 graduate of Grand Valley State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology with an emphasis on special education. He is currently working on a master's degree from Ohio University in coaching.
As a player, he was named to the Class A All-State team as a senior while playing for Port Huron Northern High School. Whymer was also the 2003 Port Huron Times Herald Player of the Year.
He played his first two seasons collegiately at Lake Superior (2003-04 and 2004-05), where he totaled 533 points in 47 games with 108 rebounds and 80 assists. After sitting out the 2005-06 campaign due to GLIAC transfer rules, Whymer played in 32 games for GVSU in 2006-07 scoring in double digits four times, including a season-high 17 points in a win at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL).
As a senior in 2007-08, he helped the Lakers to a 36-1 record with the lone loss coming to Winona State in the Elite Eight quarterfinals. Whymer tallied a season-high 16 points in a victory over Northern Michigan.
