Kim McNeill () is an American basketball coach from Bassett, Virginia. She is the current head coach for the East Carolina Pirates women's basketball team. 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. Before taking over at Hartford she served as assistant and associate head coach at Virginia.

Playing career

McNeill (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 Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, where she was a co-captain of her team, and made the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

All-defensive team as a senior.

Coaching career

McNeill worked as an assistant coach for three of her first four years after playing at

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...

. The one exception was a one-year stint at

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

. The last two years at James Madison she worked under

Kenny Brooks Kenny Brooks (born December 20, 1968) is the current head coach of the Virginia Tech women's basketball team. Career Brooks played his collegiate basketball for the James Madison Dukes basketball program. During the 2013–2014 season the James ...

, 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 Joanne Boyle (born November 1, 1963) is the former head coach of the University of Virginia women's basketball team. Prior to joining the Cavaliers, Boyle served as the head coach of the California Golden Bears women's basketball team. Boyle pla ...

was the head coach of Richmond at the time. When Boyle accepted the head coaching position for

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

The following year, McNeill went with her to be an assistant on her staff. 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 Andrew Grady Landers (born October 8, 1952) is a retired American college basketball coach who was head women's basketball coach at the University of Georgia from 1979 to 2015. Landers graduated from Friendsville (Tenn.) High School in 1970, the ...

at Georgia. She spent four years at Georgia until Joanne Boyle took the head coaching position at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

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.

Hartford

McNeill 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

In her second season at Hartford she led the Hawks to the

America East The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...

Championship game falling to

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

74-65.

2018–19

In 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 Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

in the first round 71–54.

East Carolina

In March 2019,

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

Persuaded McNeill to take over as head coach.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Official Biography, East Carolina Pirates
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeill, Kim Living people American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Virginia California Golden Bears women's basketball coaches Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball coaches Hartford Hawks women's basketball coaches Howard Bison women's basketball coaches James Madison Dukes women's basketball coaches People from Bassett, Virginia Richmond Spiders women's basketball coaches Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball coaches 1978 births