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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's basketball head coach Matt Bollant has completed his coaching staff for the 2019-20 season with the hiring of former Xavier University head coach Brian Neal as the Panthers final assistant coach.
 
"Coach Neal is a great addition to our staff," said Bollant.  "He's been highly successful at many levels and will add a great deal to our program.  We are very fortunate to have him join our staff and we are thrilled for what he will bring on and off the court."
 
Neal comes to EIU following six seasons as the head coach at Xavier.  During his time as the head coach at Xavier Neal coached two Big East Honorable Mention selections and two Big East All-Freshman Team selections.  Neal began his tenure at Xavier as an assistant coach in 2011 and was named interim head coach in October of 2013 before being named the head coach in November of 2013.   During his second season leading the Musketeers, Neal guided the program to a ten-win improvement from the previous season finishing the year with 18 wins.  The ten-win improvement ranked ninth among all NCAA Division I schools that season as Xavier played in the WBI post season tournament.   His program would follow-up with a 17 win campaign the next year.
 
Prior to his time at Xavier, Neal was the head coach at NCAA Division III Thomas More College.  During his tenure with the program he won five straight President's Athletic Conference championships being named the league's coach of the year on four occasions.  He was twice named the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year and was the 2011 WBCA Region Six Coach of the Year.  Neal guided Thomas More College to five straight NCAA Division III tournament appearances, twice reaching the Sweet 16.  During his final year in 2010-11, the team earned the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking finishing the season with a 30-1 record.
 
During 13 seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level, Neal compiled a 247-139 career record with six post season tournament appearances. 
 
Neal is a 1991 graduate of Northern Kentucky University.  He has previous assistant coaching stops at Wilmington College and Northern Kentucky.  While at Wilmington College he helped the program post back-to-back 20-win seasons in his final two years with the program.  During a six year stint as an assistant at Northern Kentucky, he helped NKU advance to six straight NCAA Division II Tournaments winning the national championship in 2000.  During the six seasons NKU won 156 games with two national championship game appearances and four other Elite Eight appearances.
 
"I'm excited to be joining the staff at Eastern Illinois," added Neal.  "Coach Bollant is one of the most respected coaches in the Midwest and I'm looking forward to helping him build an OVC contender."