Ryan McNeil was a former Division I College Coach and Player before starting Garden State Attack Volleyball Club in 2015

Coach McNeil’s first year as a college head coach was 2004, successfully rebuilding the fortunes of the men & women volleyball programs for the NJIT Highlanders. Now, in a back to the future move, he is focused on building the fortunes of Garden State Attack Volleyball Club which is entering its 6th season.

Recapping his NJIT career, Coach McNeil took over a men’s program that had four straight losing records and guided his first squad to a .500 overall record in 2005 and followed that up with playoff appearances for three years beginning in 2006. Along the way, NJIT won the 2007 championship of the EIVA Hay Division with a 9-1 division record and a year later marched to the brink of national prominence with a run to the 2008 playoff semifinals.

On the women’s side in 2006, Coach McNeil led NJIT into its first season of Division I competition. Despite facing Division I competition with only two starters returning from the previous year, the Highlanders won 10 matches, surpassing the team’s nine wins in its last season at the Division II level in 2005.

Championship-level volleyball is nothing new to Coach Ryan McNeil, who was a standout player in both Canada and the United States. Later, as an assistant coach at Lewis University in Illinois, he helped coach the men’s team that won the 2003 national championship match and the women’s team that qualified for two NCAA Tournaments.

A native of Montego Bay, Jamaica, Coach McNeil resided in Ontario, Canada, for 15 years. He was MVP of two college teams in Canada–Sheridan College and Ryerson University.

Transferring south of the border to Lewis University in Illinois, Coach McNeil played on the Flyers’ 1998 national semifinalists. He then turned to coaching at Lewis, assisting with both the men’s and women’s teams.

In his two years as an assistant with the Lewis men, they qualified for the NCAA tournament twice, won two Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association crowns and captured the 2003 national title match. He coached with the Lewis women for four seasons and during his tenure the Flyers made the NCAA Tournament twice and achieved national ranking in 2002.

Coach McNeil currently resides in Elizabeth, NJ with wife Lissette and son Logan.