Danny Neville enters his second season as the Head Coach for Rocky Men’s Basketball in 2026-27. Coach Neville was named the Frontier Conference Coach of the Year in 2025-26, leading the Battlin’ Bears to a 31-4 overall record, including 25-3 in the regular season and 20-2 in Frontier Conference play.
His debut season with the Battlin’ Bears was one to remember, as the Battlin’ Bears won both the Frontier Conference Regular Season and Tournament titles, the first the program has won since 2014, and earned their first trip to the NAIA National Championship Tournament since 2019. Rocky Men’s Basketball hosted the first NAIA National Championship First and Second Rounds Pod in program history, defeating Simpson University and The Master’s University to advance to the NAIA National Championship Final Site and the Round of 16 for the first time since Rocky’s National Championship-winning season in 2009.
The inaugural season under Coach Neville saw Rocky Men’s Basketball set new program records in wins (31), conference wins (20), and winning streak (21). Senior guard Omari Nesbit was named the program’s first-ever NAIA First Team All-American, while Royce Robinson earned NAIA All-Tournament honors, the first Battlin’ Bear to do so since 2009, the first Frontier Conference student-athlete to earn such honors since 2019, and was the only underclassman honored on the All-Tournament team. Nesbit and Robinson were also named First Team All-Frontier Conference; Senior Carter McCoy was named Second Team All-Conference, while Robinson and Mekhi Jourdan earned All-Defensive Team honors.
The Battlin’ Bears ranked as the third-best defensive unit in the NAIA in 2025-26, allowing just 65.3 points per game, which led them to a Quarterfinals appearance at the NAIA National Championship Tournament.
In 2024-25, Neville served as the Associate Head Coach at Langston University (Okla.). His track record of success continued with the Lions, the number one team in the NAIA MBB Preseason Coaches Poll. Langston combined for an overall record of 26-8, winning the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament title and advancing to the Round of 16 in the NAIA National Tournament before falling to the eventual national champions, the College of Idaho.
Neville's collegiate coaching career began as the head assistant coach at Presentation College for two seasons before becoming an assistant coach at the University of Jamestown. After three seasons as an assistant coach, Neville was named head coach of the Jimmies ahead of the 2015-16 season and spent eight seasons at the helm. His eight seasons at Jamestown were dominant in the classroom and on the court, as Neville totaled an overall record of 178-84, including 122-45 in his final five seasons. The Jimmies qualified for the NAIA National Tournament four times (2019, 2021, 2022, & 2023), advancing to the Round of 16 three times and the Round of eight once, totaling an 8-4 record at the national tournament. Neville's groups excelled in the classroom, boasting some of the highest team GPAs in the University of Jamestown men's basketball program's history, including 3.49 in 2020-21, 3.52 in 2021-22, and 3.48 in 2022-23. At the University of Jamestown, he coached twenty-five All-Conference selections, one Conference Freshman of the Year, a three-time Conference Player of the Year, seven NAIA All-American selections, and one NAIA National Player of the Year.
Neville, originally from Bondurant, Iowa, played collegiately at Grand View College, where he graduated with a BA in Sports Management. He later earned an MA in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University Irvine. He is joined in Billings by his wife, Erin, and kids, Emma and Landon.
