When Thomas More University women’s basketball coach Jeff Hans brought former Northern Kentucky University assistant and Xavier University head coach Brian Neal back to the Saints as an assistant last season, he thought it was a match made in heaven.
Both coaches are part of the Nancy Winstel coaching tree that started during Winstel’s record-breaking tenure at NKU.
“I have known Brian Neal for a long time, ever since I was a student at Wilmington College and he was sports information director and assistant women’s basketball coach,” Hans said. “I actually worked for him on game days by helping with the stats. We have a lot of the same basketball thoughts and philosophies because of the coaches we worked for in the past.”
Neal, a one-time Thomas More head coach, helped lead the Saints to a 31-4 record and an appearance in the NAIA championship game last season. That and his experience impressed Southeastern University, which has hired him as women’s head basketball coach.
Before returning to Thomas More for one season, Neal spent the two previous seasons as an assistant at NCAA Division I Butler and the season prior to that as an assistant at Eastern Illinois.
Neal, a 30-year coaching veteran, takes over an NAIA Southeastern University program that advanced to the Sun Conference Tournament championship game last season. The Fires finished with a record of 14-15. Southeastern is a private Christian university in Lakeland, Florida. It’s the largest Assemblies of God educational institution in the country.
“Southeastern is a special place and I’m humbled to join an institution with such rich academic and athletic traditions,” Neal told the school’s web site. “I’m looking forward to leading the SEU basketball program.”
Hans is pleased with the news.
“(Thomas More’s success) started in the late 1990’s when we first made the NCAA Tournament and really took off after Brian became head coach in 2004,” Hans said. “Coach Neal had a great run and guided the team to a No. 1 ranking in NCAA Division III during the 2010-11 season. He was able to take local high school players and get them to mesh at Thomas More.”
The Saints’ coach is going to miss his long-time friend.
“I was able to learn from someone that has coached against some of the best coaches and programs at the highest level,” Hans said. “We don’t have the opportunity to have a former NCAA Division I head coach help us very often. The knowledge he was able to share with our players was very valuable.”
Neal was head coach at Xavier University for six seasons from 2013-19 after spending the two previous seasons as a Musketeers assistant. His record was 76–107. He coached the last winning Xavier team in 2015-16 when the Musketeers finished 17-13.
In seven seasons at Thomas More, he compiled a 171-31 record, at that time ranking sixth in NCAA Division III among active coaches in win percentage (.846). The Saints won five conference championships and made two Sweet 16 appearances under Neal, a four-time conference coach of the year and a two-time Great Lakes Region coach of the year.
He hopes to have the same success at Southeastern.
“I’m looking forward to working to develop our student-athletes to their fullest potential on-and-off the court,” Neal said.
