Whitesell replaced Larry Farmer as head coach of the Ramblers on April 14, 2004.

Whitesell was fired as head coach of the Ramblers on March 14, 2011, after seven seasons, posting a 109–106 record in that time.

[1] Whitesell was hired in August 2013[2] as an assistant coach at St. John's to fill the void left by former director of basketball operations Moe Hicks.

On April 16, 2015, he was named associate head coach of men's basketball at the University at Buffalo.

[3] On April 6, 2019, Whitesell was named the 14th head coach of men's basketball at the University at Buffalo, filling the void left by Nate Oats when he resigned to take the head coach position at the University of Alabama.