Butler University Athletics

The 2021-22 season will be assistant coach Brian Neal's second season with Butler. Neal, the former Xavier Musketeer Head Coach, returned to the BIG EAST Conference as an interim assistant coach at Butler for the 2020-21 season. Prior to joining Butler, Neal most recently served as the head coach at Wittenberg University. He brings 29 years of coaching experience to the Butler sideline.
 
"I feel very fortunate to have Brian join our staff," Head Coach Kurt Godlevske said. "His knowledge of the BIG EAST Conference and overall enthusiasm for working with young student-athletes will be a huge asset. Brian and I have known each other for a long time, I trust him, and believe in his abilities to coach. In addition to coaching, he has connections in the regions we like to recruit. I'm looking forward to working with him and am excited about what he brings to the table. Please join me in welcoming Brian to the Bulldog family!"
 
Neal spent six seasons as the head coach at Xavier, accumulating 76 wins before resigning in March of 2019. He spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois helping the Panther post a 19-12 overall record that included a 12-6 mark against OVC opponents.  
 
While working for the Musketeers, Neal coached three BIG EAST honorable mention selections (Glover, Gaffney, Gray) and two honorees on the All-Freshman Team (Blackwell, Dunham). Neal was promoted from within at Xavier, spending the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons as an assistant coach.
 
Prior to Xavier, Neal was the head coach of Thomas More's women's program for seven years. He posted a 171-31 (.847) overall record at Thomas More with six consecutive 20-win seasons and five consecutive Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championships. Neal was a four-time recipient of the PAC Coach of the Year Award and was twice named the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year.
 
The Saints made five-straight NCAA Championship appearances during Neal's tenure. In 2010-11, Thomas More earned the school's first-ever No. 1 ranking and posted the program's second undefeated regular season in four years while advancing to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Division III Championship for the second time in three seasons. In March of 2011, he was named the Russell Athletics/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Region Six Division III Coach of the Year.
 
Before taking over the reins at Thomas More, Neal was an assistant coach at his alma mater Northern Kentucky University for six seasons under head coach Nancy Winstel. While at NKU, the Norse compiled a six-year record of 156-36 (.813) and advanced to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship each season with the school's first-ever national championship coming in 2000.
 
Neal began his coaching career at the Division III level as an assistant coach at Wilmington College from 1992-98. With the Quakers, he was an assistant under head coach Jerry Scheve for a team that posted back-to-back 20-win campaigns in his final two seasons.
 
Neal graduated from Northern Kentucky in May of 1991 with a bachelor's degree in journalism with an English minor. He and his wife Amy have four children, Allison, Madison, Emma and Maxwell.