A familiar face will be back in the head coaches seat for the Thomas More University women’s basketball program.
Brian Neal was named the next head coach for the Saints on Thursday, replacing Jeff Hans, who recently left to be the head coach of the Northern Kentucky University women’s program.
After over 30 years in the coaching ranks, Neal is headed back towards where he grew up and once coached, officially introduced at the Connor Convocation Center on Thursday afternoon.
He remembers the times his children were growing up and watching games in the CCC when Neal coached the women’s program from 2004-11.
“I had a couple friends text me that life comes full circle and I don’t know if it’s full circle or not, but it sure feels good,” Neal said. “To be honest, it would have been a little awkward if we were still Division III, but to come back and this is almost like the perfect time to start a new era. We still have another year to get into Division II completely, but we have that time to separate a little bit and move forward to a new chapter of the program.”
In leading the Saints for those seven seasons, 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. Six times in seven years, the Saints won 20 or more games.
Neal brings a winning pedigree for a program that expects to continue to win at a high level, having won three national championships during Hans’ tenure.
“This program is respected across the country,” Neal said. “It’s an honor to lead it again. Wherever I go, and I know a lot of coaches, people, Division I, II, III, everyone knows the power of this program and how important it is. I felt that again this morning via all the text messages and phone calls.”
The Saints made the transition to Division II from NAIA last season and finished with a 18-11 record and went 13-7 in conference play. They finished as the No. 4 seed in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and advanced to the conference tournament semifinals before losing to Ashland University. They’re ineligible for the national postseason tournament for one more season under the NCAA’s provisionary two-year transition period.
“This program is the face of the school,” Thomas More Director of Athletics Terry Connor said. “So there’s a lot of pressure to get it right. Somebody that can come in and continue on with what we’re doing. Stepping up to another division makes it tough and there’s a lot of pressure to continue that winning tradition.”
Neal takes over after guiding an NAIA Southeastern University program last season that won the Sun Conference Tournament championship and finished with a 22-8 record. Neal was there for one season, prior to that he was an assistant under Hans at Thomas More for the 2022-23 season when the Saints went 31-4 and finished as national runner-up in NAIA. Neal spent the two prior seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Butler and spent a season at Eastern Illinois as an assistant coach.
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.
“It was a difficult decision. The first resume came in one minute after the press conference at Northern (NKU) started,” Connor said. “Brian understands what Thomas More is, and that’s number one academics. He has been here, he understands that. Resources are sometimes a challenge, so you’ve got to do more with less. He understands that and that’s important when you’re hiring coaches. You have to overcome some challenges like you do everywhere, but I think his personality, the relationships he has with his players, I think that will help and I think he’ll grow that way.”
Before his time at Thomas More, he served as assistant coach at NKU under Nancy Winstel for six seasons. He helped coach the Norse to a 156-36 record while also helping the team capture the NCAA DII National Championship (2000), two National Championship game appearances, four Elite Eight appearances, and appearing in the National Tournament each year he was there.
Neal started his coaching career at Wilmington College as an assistant coach to Jerry Scheve from 1992-98. The Quakers had back-to-back 20-win seasons in his first two seasons there.
He graduated from NKU in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in English. Neal and his wife, Amy, have been life-long residents of Northern Kentucky and have four children.
