Brandon McKinley enters his fourth season as a Volunteer Assistant Coach on Head Coach Gregg Schmitt's staff in 2025-2026 with the Wheeling Track & Field team. McKinley works primarily with the team's jumpers and has coached several National Qualifiers over the past two seasons.
Under McKinley's guidance, senior Kabwe Bwayla would compete in the Men's Triple Jump, and leaped a distance of 14.34 meters to take second overall in the 2024 MEC Championship event. It was his highest individual finish in a championship event and fell just .06 meters shy of his PR, which he set back during the Indoor Championships.
During the 2023-2024 season, McKinley once again took on a large role assisting with the team's jumpers during the season. He helped coach Daimar Ivey and Kabwe Bwalya in the Long Jump and Triple Jump, while guiding Tara Perry to another top three finish in the women's high jump.
In 2022-23, McKinley took High Jumper Andrew Taylor under his wing and helped coach him to a career season in the jumping pit. The junior hit a new PR twice throughout the season, and claimed his second consecutive MEC Championship in High Jump, with a height of 2.05 Meters at the 2023 MEC Championships. He then moved on to the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championships, where he competed in High Jump for the second straight year. Taylor would finish third in the nation in the event, reaching a height of 2.18 meters to set a new PR and set the program record for the event.
In 2021-22, McKinley helped coach Taylor to his first NCAA National championship appearances, when he set the MEC record at the championship, becoming the first MEC athlete to clear the seven-foot mark at the event. He went on to the National Championship, and picked up the first All-American Award of his career, finishing with a height of 2.13 meters.
Along with being an assistant coach with the Wheeling Track & Field program, McKinley also serves as an assistant coach at Wheeling Park High School and is the owner and founder of OG Athletics LLC.
