Coaches

Kate (Refsnyder) Wheeler

Kate (Refsnyder) Wheeler, the head coach at Hamilton College in 2018 and an assistant coach at Brown from 2014-17, enters her fifth year as the head coach of the Brown University softball program in 2022-23 after taking over the position in August 2018.


In the 2022 season, Wheeler led the Bears to the most wins in a season since 2016 and the second-most wins since 2010. The seven wins in Ivy League play were tied for the most since 2011. Wheeler coached senior Lauren Innerst to an NFCA All-Region Third Team honor and an All-Ivy Second Team honor. Two other Bears, Kat Clum and Elayna Tsiouplis, were also named All-Ivy Second Team. Under Wheeler, Erin Elgas, Katie O'Leary, Brianna Rodriguez and Nicole Kim were named All-Ivy Honorable Mention.


In 2019, Wheeler coached a pair of All-Ivy selections in Lauren Innerst ’22 and Cat Seitz ’19 while Meghan Wimmer ’19 won Brown’s Arlene Gorton ’52 Cup, given to the female varsity athlete who most consistently displays the ideals of sportsmanship and fair play. The Bears’ 2020 season was shortened to 10 games due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19).


Wheeler spent the 2018 season revitalizing the program at Hamilton, leading the team to set single-season school records for runs and put-outs. She spent the prior four seasons at Brown (2014-17), helping the program increase its win total, improve its RPI, and better its team batting average and ERA during her tenure.


During the 2017 campaign, Wheeler helped Brown usher in its first season in its new stadium as the Bears set a single-season program record with 32 home runs. She guided four All-Ivy honorees for the third straight season as Annie McGregor ’18, Christina Andrews ’17, Julia Schoenewald ’17, and Meghan Wimmer ’19 gained all-conference accolades.


In 2016, Wheeler coached a quartet of All-Ivy honorees as Yeram Park ’18, Andrews, Sarah Syrop ’17, and Janet Leung ’16 all earned the accolades. The Bears swept a doubleheader from Cornell for the first time since the year 2000, earned a 5-1 win in extra innings over Penn, and claimed a 9-1 victory over league champion Princeton on their way to a 5-3 mark against the Ivy League’s South Division.


Wheeler mentored four All-Ivy performers in 2015 in Leung, Syrop, Katie Orona ’18, and Leah Nakashima ’17. In Ivy play, Wheeler helped the Bears pick up two wins over eventual South Division champion, Penn, and one win each against Ivy champion Dartmouth and Harvard.


In 2014, Wheeler helped coached a pair of Second Team All-Ivy selections in Andrews and Leung. She helped guide Nakashima who hurled the Bears to a 3-1 victory over Dartmouth, the eventual Ivy League champions.


Wheeler completed two one-season stints as the head coach at Albright College – a Division III school in Reading, Pa. – first in 2009 and again in 2013. During her second tenure, Wheeler guided the Lions to their most wins since 2008, landed four players on All-Conference teams, and revamped a pitching staff that tossed a perfect game and two no-hitters, while lowering its ERA by 3.67 runs per game.


At Coastal Carolina University from 2010-12, Wheeler served three seasons as an assistant coach and helped steer the Chanticleers to a 2012 Big South Championship and an NCAA tournament appearance. Along with enhancing on-the-field performance, Wheeler was instrumental in organizing camps and clinics and orchestrating community service projects.


Prior to her first Division I coaching job at Coastal Carolina, Wheeler worked as an assistant coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2008 and as a graduate assistant coach at East Stroudsburg University, where she earned her master's degree in Sport Management in 2006.


Wheeler was a four-year member of the softball team at Wagner College, where she pitched and played second and third base for the Seahawks. As a senior, she earned Second Team All-Northeast Conference honors as a utility player. Wheeler completed her bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Wagner in 2005.


Wheeler lives in West Warwick with her wife Stephanie and two dogs, Abby and Moka.