SENATOBIA – Northwest Mississippi Community College has announced the hiring of Windham Whatley as the fifth Head Coach of the Ranger men’s soccer program on January 5, 2026.
Whatley joins the program after spending the last six years with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College team, first as a volunteer assistant coach before becoming a full-time assistant in 2022. While there, he helped the Bulldogs to a 67-28-12 record and a national tournament appearance in 2024.
Whatley has also been coaching for the past five years with the South Mississippi soccer club as well as several other developmental roles he holds with the Hattiesburg Futbol Club’s USL 2 team and with the Mississippi Olympic Development Program.
He was part of the United Soccer Coaches South Region Staff of the Year in 2021. That was the year Gulf Coast won its first MACCC/NJCAA Region 23 title in a decade on the way to the school’s first NJCAA Men’s Soccer Championship in Wichita, Kansas, where they lost a pair of tight, one-goal matches.
Whatley was a defensive midfielder for the Bulldogs in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, and he was a rare two-year captain. He played in the MACJC All-Star Game following his sophomore season.
He earned United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American honors as a sophomore, along with NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete honors. Whatley was twice on the Academic All-MACJC list.
Whatley went on to play at William Carey, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in physical education.
He coached for the South Mississippi Soccer Club and was the assistant coach for Hattiesburg Futbol Club’s USL 2 team the past two seasons. Whatley was part of the Mississippi Olympic Development Program coaching staff in the winter of 2024-25 In 2019-20, he was an assistant at Sumrall High School. He holds a USSF C License.
