Evangel University Athletics
eu:24 October 29-30

Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

Leon NealLeon Neal (school bio)
Head Coach

Leon Neal, 52, is in his 16th year as the head Evangel women’s basketball coach. The upcoming season is Neal’s 23rd overall year on the EU women’s basketball coaching staff. He was co-head coach with Lynn Bowen the five years prior to 1999-2000 and was an assistant for seven years for the Lady Crusaders and for the men’s basketball team.

Neal earned his Bachelor’s degree from Evangel in 1989 and completed his Master’s degree at Drury University in 2001. In addition to his coaching duties, Neal is also an assistant professor in EU’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department.

Neal has also served as the head volleyball coach for two years (1998-99) and was the assistant men’s basketball coach for 12 years, stepping down from that job prior to the 1998-99 season. Neal has put together an impressive 324-171 (.655) overall coaching record during his 15 years as head women’s coach of the Lady Crusaders.

All of Neal’s 17 teams have advanced to postseason play. His first team, the 1994-95 squad, finished 20-10. In 1995-96 Neal (and Bowen) had their best season to date for Evangel women’s basketball. That team ended its season with a 33-5 mark, won the conference championship, won the postseason conference tournament and advanced to the Final Four of the NAIA-II national tournament. Neal and Bowen each won the conference’s coach-of-the-year award in 1995-96. Neal’s 1996-97 team finished 24-11 and in 1997-98, the Crusaders again finished strong with a 25-10 mark. The 2000-01 team was also highly successful, earning a trip to the NAIA II national tournament and finishing with a 20-11 record. The 2000-01 Lady Crusaders also won the Heart of America Athletic Conference championship with a 16-4 conference record and Neal was awarded his second conference Coach-of-the-Year honor.

Neal’s 2001-02 team continued the tradition set down by the previous year’s team and won the conference title for the second straight and third overall season. The team also won the conference postseason tournament, advanced two games into the NAIA II national tournament, and finished with an outstanding 28-7 record. At the conclusion of the 2001-02 season, Neal was presented with his third conference coach-of-the-year award.

At the end of the 2002-03 season, Neal’s ninth, the Lady Crusaders were 29-9, tied for first place in the conference, won the postseason conference tournament, and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NAIA II national tournament.

Neal’s 2003-04 team won the program’s fifth conference championship, won the postseason conference tournament and competed in the NAIA II national tournament for the fourth straight and sixth overall time. The 2003-04 squad turned in a 29-7 overall record and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the national tournament. In addition, Neal was honored with his fourth conference coach-of-the-year award at the season’s end.

The dynasty continued in 2004-2005 culminated by the Lady Crusaders’ second NAIA-II Final Four appearance. Evangel finished that season 32-8, captured their fifth straight conference regular season championship going 19-1, and won their fifth consecutive HAAC Tournament Championship extending a conference post-season winning streak to 15 games.

In 2008-09, Neal led a team that, despite four devastating injuries to key players, still managed to earn a regular season Heart of America conference title and automatic berth to the NAIA-I national tournament in their inaugural season at NAIA Division I. The team finished 21-11, 17-3 in the conference and Neal was again awarded Coach of the Year in the HAAC.

An excellent motivator and teacher and a person with a great personal testimony, Neal is also active away from Ashcroft Center. Neal has worked with the Springfield Police Department’s Gang Task Force, he speaks to several youth groups and various athletic groups on drug and alcohol abuse, gives private basketball lessons to area athletes, and coaches in several basketball camps during the summer. Neal has served as the head coach of an area AAU team that is comprised of sophomores and juniors. His teams have advanced to the national AAU tournament six times.

A former Crusader basketball standout and arguably one of the best players ever to wear the maroon and white, Neal earned NAIA all-America honors in 1978. He set a new season scoring record at Evangel during the 1977-78 season with 782 points and finished as the No. 13 scorer in the nation (NAIA). During his two-year career at Evangel, Neal averaged 24.4 points per game. He transferred to Evangel from Cuesta College (Calif.), where he also won all-America status.
Following his final year of basketball at Evangel, Neal turned down NBA tryouts to perform with Athletes in Action in Canada for one season. He returned to Evangel in 1979-80 to assist then head women’s basketball coach Dr. David Stair. At the end of that season, Neal left Evangel to pursue a professional basketball career in Portugal.

As a professional player, Neal was the recipient of several honors while playing for Porto and Sangalhos in Portugal. As he had at Cuesta and at Evangel, Neal consistently averaged 24 points per game during his six-year professional career. At Porto, Neal’s team won two national championships and they played in the European Cup Championships twice. Neal won MVP honors for his 44-point game in one of the national championship finals. The Sangalhos team was the national runner up at the end of two seasons. In addition, he coached the Sangalahos women’s basketball team for three years, accumulated a 77-6 record, and advanced to the national finals twice.
Following his stint in Portugal, Neal returned to Evangel for the 1986-87 season and finished his degree, graduating in 1989. Neal’s Evangel players have won 11 all-America honors and six were first team all-America picks. In addition, his players have won 35 all-conference awards and 17 were first team selections.

A native of Los Angeles (Crenshaw High School), Neal and his wife, (assistant coach) Dawn, have a daughter, NaTasha, who graduated from Evangel in the summer of 2005. Tasha (Neal) Moore lives in the Dallas, Texas area with husband Anthony their son Marcus. The Neals reside in Springfield.

Coaching History

Coaching Highlights

Playing History

Dawn NealDawn Neal (school bio)
Assistant Coach

Dawn Neal is in her 11th season as assistant coach for Evangel women’s basketball.

Like her husband, (head coach) Leon, Dawn is a former Evangel athlete. She played on the 1980 volleyball and 1978-80 Evangel basketball squads. Neal then returned to Evangel in 1995 after playing in the Professional Women’s Basketball League in Europe for five years.

She served as a student assistant on the Evangel volleyball team in 1996 and also was a student assistant for the Evangel women’s 1995-96 and 1996-97 basketball teams. After graduating from Evangel in 1997, she was an interim head volleyball coach and served as a co-head coach of the volleyball team with Mary Whitehead in 2000.

Neal has earned her Master’s degree at Drury University in 2005.

Dawn and her husband, Leon, have a daughter, Natasha, who graduated from Evangel in 2005 and now resides in the Dallas, Texas area with husband Anthony Moore and son Marcus. Like her parents, Natasha was a standout on the basketball team winning the conference’s Player of the Year three times, and was a four-time NAIA All-American.

Jason GianopulisJason Gianopulis

Jason Gianopulis is in his first season as an assistant coach with the Evangel women’s basketball program. Gianopulis was a coach at Walnut Grove in 2001-02 and New Covenant Academy in 2002-03. He started “Athletes as Servants” in 2009 in conjunction with his daughter’s basketball and softball teams. The organization does community service projects and events. Jason lives in Republic with his wife Pam and their two children: Jordyn (8) and Trey (3).

Whitney PollardWhitney Pollard

Whitney Pollard joins the Evangel University coaching staff after completing her playing eligibility last season. Pollard was a two-year letter winner for Evangel after transferring to the program from Hannibal-LaGrange. She was an all-conference performer at center during her senior season and helped the Lady Crusaders to their seventh conference title. Pollard played her high school basketball at Glendale High School in Springfield and is finishing her degree in Psychology.