Hall of Fame
Whitesell led Lewis' men's basketball team for 12 seasons guiding them to 10 winning seasons, eight seasons with at least 18 wins and four seasons of 20 wins or more and five trips to the NCAA Tournament. His best season came in 2001-02 when he led the Flyers to 25 wins matching the school record set by the 1985-86 team. His squad finished the GLVC regular season tied for second with Northern Kentucky at 15-5 and was seeded third in the GLVC Tournament. The Flyers knocked off six seeded Bellarmine 51-50 in the quarterfinals, then defeated seventh seeded Wisconsin-Parkside 70-58 in the semifinals and upset top seeded Kentucky Wesleyan 77-65 in the GLVC Championship to win the program's first GLVC Championship since 1988. That squad made the first of three straight NCAA Tournament appearances advancing all the way to the Great Lakes Regional Championship game where they were defeated by Kentucky Wesleyan 80-75.
In 2002-03, he led the Flyers to a 23-8 overall record, 14-6 in the GLVC and back to the GLVC Championship game where they lost to Northern Kentucky 58-55. Lewis went back to the NCAA Tournament but was defeated by Southern Indiana 82-63 in the first round. In his final season with the Flyers he led them to a 24-7 record, 16-4 in the GLVC and a regular season championship. Lewis once again advanced all the way to the GLVC Championship before losing to Kentucky Wesleyan 72-71 in overtime. The Flyers hosted the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Tournament that season as the top seed but fell to Wayne State 65-62 in the opening round. Whitesell's 214 wins and his .629 winning percentage rank third all-time in Lewis history.
