Not many college basketball players get the chance to play for a program that averages a postseason trip every two years, but that is what EKU players have experienced under head coach Jeff Neubauer.
The Colonels have made four trips to national postseason tournaments in Neubauer’s nine seasons as head coach. This past March, Eastern nearly upset No. 2 seed Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
EKU led the Jayhawks by nine in the first half and still had the lead with 8:55 left in the game. The Colonels trailed by only three with 3:39 on the clock. Eastern held the lead for more than half the game.
In Eastern Kentucky’s 93 seasons of basketball before Neubauer became the head coach, the team made only seven appearances in national postseason tournaments. The Colonels have now made four trips in the past nine seasons, including back-to-back appearances for the first time (2012-13 and 2013-14).
The past four seasons have been like none other. Eastern Kentucky’s 80 victories the last four years are the most during any four-year period in school history. The Colonels also set records this past season for winningest 3-year and 2-year stretches. EKU won a school-record 25 games in 2012-13 and with 24 more wins in 2013-14 the team has 49 victories in the past two seasons.
Before giving Kansas all it could handle in the NCAA Tournament, Neubauer led the Colonels on a methodical march through the Ohio Valley Conference tourney. Eastern won three games in three days and trailed for only 41 seconds during the entire tournament.
EKU finished second in the nation in turnover margin, fifth in three-point field goals per game and sixth in steals. With a win over Chattanooga on Feb. 4, the Colonels set a new program mark with their 22nd straight home court non-conference victory. EKU is 44-7 (.863) in home non-conference games under Neubauer.
In recognition of a spectacular season, Neubauer was one of 15 finalists for the 2014 Hugh Durham Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top mid-major coach.
In addition to the team’s accomplishments in 2013-14, a number of individuals posted outstanding seasons under Neubauer’s guidance. Marcus Lewis won the Denny’s Slam Dunk Championship at the 2014 Final Four. Corey Walden was the OVC Tournament MVP, the 2014 OVC Defensive Player of the Year and selected as a Lefty Driesell Defensive All-American. Glenn Cosey was chosen as a Lou Henson All-American and first team all-conference. Cosey broke the school record for three-pointers in a game and the mark for three’s in a season. His 35-foot three-pointer to beat Southeast Missouri earned the No. 1 spot on SportsCenter’s Top-10 Plays.
Neubauer’s 2012-13 team finished 25-10 and earned a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Eastern finished with three more wins than the previous program-best of 22, including the program’s first victory in a national postseason tournament game in 68 years. The 69-62 victory over Garner-Webb in the first round of the CIT was Eastern’s first tournament win since 1945.
The Colonels were picked to finish fifth in the six-team Ohio Valley Conference East Division, but entered the final day of the regular season with a chance to claim a share of the conference championship. EKU finished with the second best record in the OVC at 12-4.
At the end of the season, Neubauer was chosen as the 2013 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 19 Coach of the Year.
Eastern Kentucky started the season with nine straight wins. It was the program’s best start in 66 years. Neubauer’s Colonels were the last remaining unbeaten mid-major team and one of the final nine undefeated teams in the nation. EKU’s 9-game winning streak tied for the fifth longest in school history.
The Colonels went 15-1 at home in 2012-13, tying the school mark for most home wins in a season. Eastern Kentucky also played well on the road. Neubauer led the team to a program record nine road wins.
With 167 victories in nine seasons on the EKU bench, Neubauer now trails only Paul McBrayer on Eastern’s all-time wins list. He will enter the 2014-15 season 47 wins away from tying McBrayer. Neubauer is the only coach in program history to lead his teams to four 20-win seasons. He has won 58 percent (167-122) of his games as head coach. The Colonels are the second winningest team in the OVC over the last nine seasons.
Over the last two seasons, Eastern has recorded its two best RPI rankings in the modern era. The 2012-13 team finished with an RPI of 69 and the 2013-14 squad ranked 95th out of 349 Division I teams.
The Colonels have been just as successful in the classroom under Neubauer. In 2014, the program earned a coveted NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) Public Recognition Award. This specific award is given each year to teams that posted multiyear APRs in the top-10 percent of all squads in each sport. The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. Eastern was one of only 40 men’s basketball teams from across the nation, and one of only two in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, to earn the Public Recognition Award.
“We have been very fortunate here at EKU to attract and coach a group of outstanding young men,” Neubauer said. “We have been incredibly pleased with the way that our teams have competed and represented the University. It is our intention to continue to build on the unselfishness and consistency that we have continually encouraged here at EKU.”
In Neubauer’s second season at EKU, the Colonels went dancing in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The 2006-07 squad won the OVC title without a first team all-conference player on the roster. Eastern Kentucky also advanced to postseason play in 2010 when the Colonels earned a spot in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
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With Neubauer’s leadership, the Colonels went on an amazing run at the end of 2006-07, winning 11 of 13 games to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. During that stretch, EKU held the opposition to just 59.8 points per game.
In his first game as head coach, Neubauer and the 2005-06 Colonels nearly pulled off a dramatic upset over Big Ten opponent Wisconsin at the Paradise Jam tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but fell to the Badgers in double-overtime.
Neubauer has coached nine all-conference players, an OVC Defensive Player of the Year, an OVC Co-Freshman of the Year, two OVC Tournament MVPs and the program’s top two all-time leading scorers in his nine years at Eastern Kentucky.
Neubauer’s teams have not been afraid to shoot from behind the arc. The Colonels have led the OVC in 3-pointers per game five of the last six years and have been among the top-3 in the league every year. In 2008-09, Mike Rose – a three-time all-conference selection – led the nation in 3-point shooting at 48.1 percent. In 2013-14, Eastern tied the OVC record with 20 three-pointers in one game.
Before arriving at Eastern Kentucky, Neubauer served three seasons as the top assistant at West Virginia under head coach John Beilein where he helped fuel the Mountaineers’ rapid rise to national prominence.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’ve had a lot of assistants, and Jeff’s basketball IQ is just terrific,” Beilein said. “He understands the game and is not afraid to be innovative, but he also knows how important it is to be fundamentally sound.”
The rebuilding process at West Virginia culminated in the Mountaineers’ dramatic run through the 2005 NCAA Tournament. WVU earned triumphs over five top-20 programs in the regular season that year before reaching the Big East Tournament’s championship game. Then, after upsetting second-seeded Wake Forest in double overtime in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, the Mountaineers knocked off Bobby Knight’s Texas Tech team in the Sweet 16. The spirited march came to a halt when Louisville prevailed in overtime to complete a highly-contested Elite Eight battle. West Virginia finished 2004-05 ranked 12th in the country.
Neubauer followed Beilein to Morgantown, W.Va., in 2002 after the two enjoyed similar success together for five years at the University of Richmond, where the Spiders won 100 games. While at Richmond, Neubauer helped recruit and coach numerous all-conference players, a pair of league rookies of the year, a conference player of the year and a student-athlete of the year.
In Neubauer’s second season at Richmond, the Spiders qualified for the NCAA Tournament and then proceeded to surprise SEC foe South Carolina in the opening round, 62-61. Richmond earned a winning record in five of the six years Neubauer was on staff while notching NIT victories in both 2001 and 2002.
Prior to Richmond, Neubauer served three seasons as a graduate assistant coach at The Citadel, where he also earned an MBA degree.
A native of Slidell, La., Neubauer was an outstanding student-athlete at La Salle University in Philadelphia, where he played point guard under head coach William “Speedy” Morris. The Explorers went 30-2 and earned an NCAA tournament berth in Neubauer’s freshman season. La Salle accumulated two more postseason berths and an overall record of 83-36 during his four years on the squad. Neubauer, team captain as a senior, earned honorable mention GTE All-Academic accolades as a cum laude graduate in finance.
He is married to the former Karen Feret of Hackettstown, N.J.
