Larry McNeil joined the Prairie View A&M women's basketball staff in January of 2014 as the team’s Director of Player Development. McNeil brings a wealth of experience as a former head coach at two institutions, a well-respected assistant coach and an Army veteran.
McNeil will assist with the evaluation of video, development of practice and game strategies, game planning and scouting.
“Larry is a proven winner and will add a great deal to our program," said Brown. “His vast life experiences on-and-off the court will develop our student-athletes into well-rounded individuals. I’m looking forward to him working with our players and staff in a variety of roles.”
McNeil has over 18 years of collegiate coaching experience. He began coaching as an assistant at Northeastern Illinois in 1994. From there he moved to Talladega College as the head coach. At Talladega College his teams compiled 63 wins in his time in leading the school to its first back-to-back winning seasons in 20 years. Currently, McNeil's win totals at Talladega rank second all-time in university history.
After a successful tenure at Talladega, McNeil moved up to the NCAA Davison I level as an assistant coach at University of Illinois-Chicago from 1999-01. In his time McNeil helped put together the 19th and 20th ranked recruiting classes in the nation in back-to-back seasons.
Following a stint at UIC, McNeil moved south to Jackson, Miss. as he served as an assistant coach at Jackson State University from 2001 to 2008. While at Jackson State, McNeil helped the Lady Tigers win the SWAC titles in 2002-03 and 03-04 with consecutive 23-win seasons. The Lady Tigers won four regular season conference titles and appeared in the WNIT three times during his coaching tenure at Jackson State. As a member of the Jackson State staff he coached Amie Williams who was the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons and a first-team all-conference player. McNeil also crossed paths with current PVAMU head coach Dawn Brown at JSU as she was a two-year letterwinner under McNeil's watch.
McNeil switched roles after his first stint at Jackson State and moved to the athletic administrative side as Jackson State's Assistant Director of Compliance for two years. Eventually, the coaching bug returned as McNeil joined the staff at North Texas in 2010 and remained until 2011 when Jackson State named him interim head coach for the women's basketball team.
Named only two months until the start of the 2011 campaign, McNeil guided JSU to double digit wins (11) for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign and a berth in the first round of the 2011 SWAC Tournament. Forward Tiffany Kellum was named to the All-SWAC First Team while guard Rachel Jones received third team honors.
Before McNeil stepped on the hardwood, he was a member of the United States Army Reserve from 1989-92 and was promoted to Staff Sergeant during Operation Desert Storm.
He is married to Gloria McNeil. The couple has three sons, Antonio, Jonathan, and Marco.
