Ty Neal

Ty Neal, most recently the head coach at the University of Cincinnati, enters his first season at Arizona State as the Quality Control Analyst on head coach Tracy Smith’s staff. Neal spent the previous four seasons (2014-17) leading the Bearcats after a highly successful eight-year run as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Indiana, capped by a trip to the 2013 College World Series. Since 2002, Neal has helped to recruit, coach and develop 41 players that would go on the to be Major League Draft picks – 33  of which were not drafted out of high school, exemplifying Neal’s ability to identify and develop talent during their time at the collegiate level. Among his highlights at Cincinnati, Neal coached All-American, Academic All-American and American Conference Player of the Year Ian Happ, the No. 9 selection in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft who made his debut with the Chicago Cubs this past season. He also mentored right-handed pitcher Connor Walsh, drafted in the 12th round by the Chicago White Sox in 2014. Walsh is now pitching in Triple A, while 2016 free agent signee Ryan Atkinson is in AA.  Both Walsh and Atkinson are 2018 Big League Spring Training invites.  Under Neal's leadership, the Bearcats earned a fourth-place finish in the American Conference in 2016 while posting 26 wins, the program's highest total since 2011, with a team ERA of 3.69 that was Cincinnati's lowest mark since 1974. UC then improved to 28 victories in 2017. Over his four seasons, the program's RPI climbed 136 places and into the Top 100. Neal sent eight players to the Cape Cod league while at UC and helped the program to an 18-7 record (.720) at Marge Schott Stadium in 2016, the best winning percentage in stadium history. Neal worked with Tracy Smith as an assistant coach at Indiana University from 2006-13, serving as the Hoosiers' pitching coach from 2006-08 and from 2011-13, around a two-year stint as the team's infield and third base coach. He recruited or coached numerous future professional players, including Major Leaguers Kyle Schwarber, Sam Travis, Josh Phegley, Alex Dickerson, Micah Johnson, Jake Dunning and Aaron Slegers. As pitching coach, he mentored 18 hurlers who were drafted in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft. Several of his Indiana pitchers have advanced in the minor leagues, including 2013 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Aaron Slegers who got a taste of the Big Leagues in 2017, Indiana career wins leader Joey DeNato, also in Triple A, and Ryan Halstead, the Hoosiers' all-time saves leader who is now in Double A. Neal helped the Hoosiers to a pair of Big Ten Conference Tournament titles, IU's first regular-season conference championship since 1949, two NCAA Regionals, one NCAA Super Regional and the program's first College World Series berth. The team won 87 Big Ten games in Neal’s final five years with the program – the most of any Big Ten program in that span while he oversaw the development of 7 players that made it into the MLB and three members of Team USA. Before going to IU, Neal worked under Smith as the pitching coach at Miami (Ohio) University in 2005, when he guided the RedHawks staff to a 3.33 ERA, which ranked 16th in the nation. He helped Miami to a school-record tying 45 victories and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. That was his second stint at Miami, his alma mater, where he began his coaching career in 2000 and helped the squad to another 40-win season and NCAA berth. In between, Neal spent three years as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois (2001-03) and one year (2004) at Cincinnati. A native of West Elkton, Ohio, Neal earned his bachelor's degree in health and sport studies in 1999 from Miami, where was he was a standout pitcher who compiled 19 career victories. He and his wife Christine, have two sons, Silas and Beckett, and one daughter, Paisley.