Coach Neary begins his second season as the Head Men's Basketball Coach of the Gillette College Pronghorns.
Coach Neary was hired by Gillette College in December 2008 to start up and lead the program.
In the inaugural season (2009-2010), the Pronghorns finished the season with a 17-13 record and a second place finish in the Region IX Central Sub-Region. Coach Neary was named the Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year in 2009-2010.
Last year the Pronghorns' sophomore star, DeJuan Wright (Detroit, MI.) was named Region IX All-Region, Most Valuable Player of the Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference, and was nominated for NJCAA All-American. Sophomore Darnell Maze (Zwolle, LA.) was named to the Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference All-Defensive team.
Four sophomores led the Pronghorns and have signed or are in the process of signing to continue their education and basketball careers: DeJuan Wright (Detroit, MI) Florida International University, Nik Mandic (Belgrade, Serbia) University of West Georgia, Will Eddie (Detroit, MI), and Darnell Maze (Zwolle, LA.) remain undecided.
Coach Neary began his head coaching career at Miles Community College (MT.) in 1996-97. He served as the Head Men's Basketball Coach at MCC for thirteen seasons.
During the thirteen seasons with the Pioneers, they won 204 games which placed Coach Neary as the all-time career leader in wins at MCC. The last three seasons the Pioneers averaged 19 wins and had a 20 win season for only the second time in school history. The 2005-2006 Pioneers were nationally ranked for the first time in school history. The Pioneers were ranked for five weeks and were ranked as high as 14th in the nation.
Eighty-five percent of all the sophomores who played in Coach Neary's program received scholarships to continue their education and basketball career at the four-year level. The student-athletes transferred to NCAA Division I, II and NAIA schools around the nation. Coach Neary has also had a number of his former players play professional in the CBA, Europe, and Australia.
Eighty-five percent of all the sophomores that participated in the program graduated. The Pioneers were also named the NJCAA Academic Team-of-the-Year five times. The team must have a GPA of 3.00 or higher to be recognized. The Pioneers had the highest team grade point average in the nation three times.
Coach Neary has had a number of articles published for national magazines such as Scholastic Coach, Winning Hoops, and JUCO Review. In 1996, Coach Neary was nominated to serve on the national advisory board of the publication Winning Hoops.
Shawn and his wife Ann have four children, Tyler (10), Jefferson (8), Abi (6) and Kaylie (4).
Joe Kittell joins the Pronghorns after spending one year at Colorado State University (CSU) as the Video Coordinator. At CSU the Rams finished the season 17-17, finished 5th in the Mountain West Conference, and recieved a birth to the College Basketball Invitational Tournament.
A 2002 graduate of Garrison (N.D.) High School, Kittell earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education K-12 in 2006 and master's degree in Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Science in 2008, both at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, ND.
Kittell worked with Tim Miles, now the Head Coach at CSU, at NDSU for four seasons (2002-2006) while pursuing his bachelor's degree. During his time in Fargo, the Bison recorded four straight winning seasons, and in 2004 made the transition from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I.
In 2006 Kittell worked at Mayville State University. During his time the Comets went 27-9, won the Dakota Athletic Conference regulars season and conference tournament championships, and made the NAIA Division II national championship game. In 2007-08 he was the assistant men's basketball coach at North Dakota State College of Science an NJCAA Division I program. The team went 25-6 and won the Mon-Dak Conference tournament.
The Clearlake, California native was a standout basketball player for the Lower Lake High School Trojans. Following high school Donley played two years at Mendocino College in Ukiah, California before spending his final two seasons at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska.
In May 2008, Donley graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Recreation. His future plans include getting his Master's Degree in Sports Psychology.
Donley resides in Gillette with his fiance, Kayla Pelton.
