Neill Berry - Men's Basketball Coach - University of Texas Athletics

Neill Berry

Title:
Assistant Coach

3rd season at Texas

Neill Berry begins his third season as an assistant coach at The University of Texas. The 38-year-old Berry, who was hired at Texas on May 21, 2018, has 15 years of experience at the Division I level, including 11 seasons as an assistant coach.

During the 2018-19 season, Texas posted a 21-16 mark and won the NIT Championship. Despite playing without Jaxson Hayes in their NIT run (left knee injury), the Longhorns ran off three consecutive home wins to open the tourney against South Dakota State, Xavier and Colorado before heading to Madison Square Garden and defeating TCU and Lipscomb in the semifinals and championship game, respectively.

A trio of UT players claimed mention on the 2018-19 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Award teams. Hayes was named the league’s Freshman of the Year, becoming the sixth UT player to earn the accolade and first since Myles Turner in 2014-15. Hayes also garnered spots on the All-Big 12 Second Team, the Big 12 All-Defensive Team, the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team and the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. In addition, Matt Coleman III and Kerwin Roach II earned places on the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team.

Hayes was selected as the No. 8 pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Draft prior to his draft rights being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. He became the ninth lottery pick in the NBA Draft in UT program history.

During the 2019 recruiting cycle, UT’s three-man freshman class ranked as the No. 17 recruiting class in the nation by 247Sports Composite. All three signees were ranked among the Top 75 players nationally by one of the major recruiting services (Will Baker, No. 28 Rivals; Kai Jones, No. 49 247Sports; Donovan Williams, No. 61 Rivals).

Despite a rash of injuries during the final third of the year that sidelined as many as five rotation players for extended action, the Longhorns registered a 19-12 record and tied for third place in the Big 12 Conference (9-9 mark) during the 2019-20 season. UT was the No. 4 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, but the league’s postseason tourney and all postseason college basketball was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas rallied for a five-game win streak in Big 12 Conference play near the end of the regular season. This marked the first time UT had won five-consecutive league games since the Longhorns won seven-straight Big 12 games in 2013-14. Three of the victories came in true road games and four of the wins were by double-digit margins, including a 67-57 victory vs. No. 20/19 West Virginia and a 68-58 win at No. 22/21 Texas Tech.

Four Texas players earned spots on the 2019-20 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Award teams. Matt Coleman III earned third-team honors, while Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey and Jericho Sims each garnered honorable mention accolades.

During the 2020 recruiting cycle, the staff had just one available scholarship but certainly made the most of it, inking consensus Top 10 national recruit Greg Brown. Brown claimed a spot in the McDonald’s All-American game, becoming the 20th player in UT program history to receive the accolade.

Prior to coming to Texas, Berry worked for three years under coach Steve Prohm at Iowa State, including the final two seasons in the role of assistant coach. After spending his first year as the program’s special assistant to the head coach, Berry was elevated to assistant coach in May 2016. In Berry’s three seasons on the staff, Iowa State posted a 60-41 mark and advanced to a pair of NCAA Tournaments, including a run to the “Sweet 16” in 2015-16.

Three players on the 2017-18 Cyclones earned All-Big 12 Conference honors, including then-freshman guard Lindell Wigginton. Berry served as the primary recruiter for Wigginton, who was the Cyclones’ first five-star recruit since Craig Brackins in 2007. Wigginton earned All-Big 12 honorable mention accolades and a spot on the Big 12 All-Newcomer team as a freshman. ISU earned three victories last season against Top 15 opponents, including a 70-52 victory against No. 8 Texas Tech. The 18-point win marked the largest margin of victory against a Top 10 team in school history.

Iowa State posted a 24-11 mark (12-6 Big 12, tie for second), won the Big 12 tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round in 2016-17. The Cyclones won 92-89 in overtime at No. 3 Kansas, snapping the Jayhawks’ 51-game win streak at Allen Fieldhouse. Iowa State was one of the nation’s best offensive teams during the year, ranking in the top 12 in adjusted offensive efficiency and top 30 in scoring offense (80.8 ppg). The Cyclones ranked No. 16 in the final Associated Press poll.

In 2015-16, Iowa State registered a 23-12 record (10-8 Big 12, fifth) and advanced to the NCAA “Sweet 16.” The Cyclones were ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 all season, climbing as high as No. 4 in the poll. ISU defeated No. 1 Oklahoma, 82-77, marking just the second time in school history the Cyclones topped a No. 1-ranked opponent. Georges Niang earned the 2016 Karl Malone Award, given annually to the nation’s top power forward.

Prior to his arrival at Iowa State, Berry served for three seasons as an assistant coach at High Point University (High Point, N.C.). The Panthers registered a 56-39 record in his three years, including a 37-13 mark in Big South Conference play. High Point advanced to postseason play in each of Berry’s three seasons.

In 2012-13, the Panthers went to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), marking the school’s first appearance in Division I postseason play. High Point earned an automatic bid to the Postseason NIT in 2013-14 and advanced to the CIT in 2014-15. The Panthers won the North Division of the Big South twice (2012-13 and 2013-14). The league went away from divisions in 2014-15, and High Point tied with Charleston Southern for the conference title.

Berry was on the staff under head coach Darrin Horn at the University of South Carolina for four years (2008-12). He served his first year (2008-09) as the Director of Player Development, before being elevated to assistant coach in 2009-10.

Berry began his coaching career as an intern under Horn at Western Kentucky in the 2005-06 season. The Hilltoppers won the 2006 Sun Belt Conference East Division title for the first time in three years, recording a 23-8 mark (12-2 Sun Belt) and advancing to the Postseason NIT. Western Kentucky went 22-11 (12-6 Sun Belt) the following season. Berry earned his first full-time assistant job in 2007-08 with the Hilltoppers, and Western Kentucky registered a 29-7 record, won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA “Sweet 16.” The Hilltoppers compiled a school-record 29 wins, including victories against Drake and San Diego in the NCAA tourney before falling to top-seed UCLA in the Round of 16.

Berry played basketball at Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond, La.) for five seasons (2000-05). After serving as a reserve in his first two years at SLU, he redshirted during the 2002-03 season in order to increase his playing time over his final two years.

In his junior season (2003-04), Berry led the Lions to a 20-9 mark and a share of the Southland Conference regular-season championship (11-5 league record). As a senior (2004-05), SLU went 24-9, won the SLC regular-season (13-3 league mark) and tournament championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. He earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2003.

A native of Madison, Miss., he was born on April 11, 1982. Berry and his wife, Ashly, have four children, Ty, Kendall, Connor and Peyton.