Kim McNeill (born June 20, 1978; née Hairston) is an American basketball coach from Bassett, Virginia. She is the current head coach for the East Carolina Pirates women's basketball team.[1] Prior to becoming the head coach at East Carolina in 2019, she spent three seasons as the head women's basketball coach for the University of Hartford.[2][3] Before taking over at Hartford she served as assistant and associate head coach at Virginia.[4]
 | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | East Carolina |
| Conference | The American |
| Record | 70–77 (.476) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | June 20, 1978 |
| Playing career | |
| 1996–1997 | Radford |
| 1997–2000 | Richmond |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 2000–2001 | James Madison (assistant) |
| 2001–2002 | Howard (assistant) |
| 2002–2004 | James Madison (assistant) |
| 2004–2005 | Richmond (assistant) |
| 2005–2007 | California (assistant) |
| 2007–2011 | Georgia (assistant) |
| 2011–2013 | Virginia (assistant) |
| 2013–2016 | Virginia (AHC) |
| 2016–2019 | Hartford |
| 2019–present | East Carolina |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 129–115 (.529) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| AAC Tournament (2023) | |
| Awards | |
| AAC Coach of the Year (2023) | |
Playing career
editMcNeill (at the time, Kim Hairston) began her collegiate playing career at Radford. As a freshman, she won the award as the Big South rookie of the year. She hit 45 out of 112 three point attempts for a 40.2% completion rate, which represented the second-highest figure and program history at that time. She then transferred to Richmond, where she was a co-captain of her team, and made the Colonial Athletic Association All-defensive team as a senior.[5][6]
Coaching career
editMcNeill worked as an assistant coach for three of her first four years after playing at James Madison. The one exception was a one-year stint at Howard. The last two years at James Madison she worked under Kenny Brooks, first when he was an associate head coach, and then when he was head coach.
She then returned to her alma mater, Richmond, in 2004, as an assistant coach, for a year. Joanne Boyle was the head coach of Richmond at the time. When Boyle accepted the head coaching position for California The following year, McNeill went with her to be an assistant on her staff.[7]
After two years at California, during which the team went 41 – 21 over the two years and achieve the program's first winning seasons in 13 years, She took a position as an assistant coach with Hall of Fame coach Andy Landers at Georgia.[6]
She spent four years at Georgia until Joanne Boyle took the head coaching position at Virginia and McNeill joined her as an assistant coach for two years and then was named associate head coach for three years. During her five years at Virginia the Cavaliers were 90–71, which included the first 25 win season in over a decade and three WNIT appearances.[8]
Hartford
editMcNeill took to step up to head-coaching when Jennifer Rizzotti left Hartford after 17 years as head coach. In her first year, she led the Hawks to a 17–14 season. All 59 wins at the University of Hartford were vacated by the NCAA.
2017–18
editIn her second season at Hartford she led the Hawks to the America East Championship game falling to Maine 74-65.[9]
2018–19
editIn her final season as head coach she led Hartford to a second-place finish in the America East and an invitation to the WNIT in 2019, losing to Providence in the first round 71–54.[2]
East Carolina
editIn March 2019, East Carolina persuaded McNeill to take over as head coach.[1]
Head coaching record
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartford Hawks (America East Conference) (2016–2019) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Hartford | 0 –14 *17 wins vacated by NCAA | 7–9 | 6th | |||||
| 2017–18 | Hartford | 0–13 *19 wins vacated by NCAA | 9–7 | 6th | |||||
| 2018–19 | Hartford | 0–11 *23 wins vacated by NCAA | 14–2 | 2nd | WNIT First Round | ||||
| Hartford: | 59–38 (.608) | 30–18 (.625) | |||||||
| East Carolina Pirates (American Athletic Conference) (2019–present) | |||||||||
| 2019–20 | East Carolina | 9–21 | 6–10 | 9th | |||||
| 2020–21 | East Carolina | 8–14 | 6–10 | 6th | |||||
| 2021–22 | East Carolina | 11–18 | 4–11 | 10th | |||||
| 2022–23 | East Carolina | 23–10 | 11–5 | 3rd | NCAA Division I First Round | ||||
| 2023–24 | East Carolina | 19–14 | 9–9 | T–6th | |||||
| East Carolina: | 70–77 (.476) | 36–45 (.444) | |||||||
| Total: | 129–115 (.529) | ||||||||
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National champion
Postseason invitational champion
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References
edit- ^ a b "Hartford coach McNeill takes job at East Carolina". Associated Press. 28 March 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
- ^ a b "Hartford Hires UVA's Kim McNeill As Women's Basketball Coach To Replace Jen Rizzotti". Hartford Courant. 25 May 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- ^ "With McNeills Taking Over At UHart, Women's Basketball Is One Huge Family". Hartford Courant. 24 June 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- ^ "Kim McNeill Promoted to Associate Head Coach". Virginia Athletics. 27 August 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
- ^ LadySwish (2011-04-17). "Ex-Richmond standout Kim Hairston joins UVa. staff". LadySwish. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ a b "Kim Hairston Joins Lady Bulldog Coaching Staff". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ "Hartford Names Kim McNeill New Head Women's Basketball Coach". University of Hartford Athletics. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ "Kim McNeill Basketball Camps - Coaching Staff". kimmcneillbasketballcamps.com. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
- ^ "Maine wins American East, 1st NCAA Tourney bid since 2004". Associated Press. Retrieved June 18, 2018.