Sean Neal joins Bonnies as assistant coach

Courtesy of GoBonnies.com

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Sean Neal has joined St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach, head coach Mark Schmidt announced.

The past four years, Neal was an assistant coach at fellow Atlantic 10 Conference member La Salle University under former head coach Dr. John Giannini. Neal served the previous five years as the director of operations at La Salle. He was a part of two Explorer teams that won 20 games including the 2012-13 club that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Neal played for the Explorers from 2003-07 and was a junior in 2005-06 when La Salle finished third in the Atlantic 10 and set a school benchmark for A-10 wins (10) in its 18-10 campaign.

The Springfield, Mass. native was honored four times with the La Salle University Faculty Athletic Award for achieving a grade point average over 3.25. He graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and received his MBA from La Salle in 2011.

In high school, Neal earned Western Massachusetts Player of the Year honors while playing at Springfield Cathedral.

“Sean is a fantastic addition to our staff,” Schmidt said. “I’ve respected Coach Giannini for a long time and know that Sean has learned from him and grown in the profession. Sean knows the A-10 well and will be able to help us extend our tradition in both recruiting and player development.”

Neal replaces Dave Moore, who accepted the head coach position at West Georgia after spending the last 11 seasons at St. Bonaventure.

Neal joins a St. Bonaventure program that finished 26-8 last season and reached the NCAA Tournament, winning its First Four game over UCLA.