Chris Neal is in his second season as an assistant coach at Ohio State under Karen Dennis after spending the three seasons at Tulane University in New Orleans. Hired in July 2008, Neal works closely with the Buckeye distance runners and cross country team.

In his first season in Columbus, the Buckeye distance program grew by leaps and bounds. During the cross country season, a young Ohio State team improved its placement in the Big Ten standings, while finishing 13^th at the NCAA Regional Championships. Sarah Foster earned Big Ten Runner of the Week honors under Neal’s leadership.

Records fell throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons – Jordan Jennewine broke the school record in the 1500m at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, while putting her name into the OSU record books in the 800m (indoor), one-mile run (indoor) and 5000m run (outdoor). Foster and Emily Thompson also earned their spot within the Ohio State annals thanks to outstanding effort during the year.

During his time at Tulane from 2006-08, Neal coached his runners to an eighth-place team finish at the 2007 NCAA Mideast Regionals and a ninth-place finish at the 2007 South Central Regional Cross Country Championships – its first Top 10 finish in school history.

Tulane’s distance program saw marked improvement under his tutelage. The 2007 cross country team won three meets and placed in the Top 10 in three others while freshman Laurie Dalrymple ran her way to All-Conference USA honors. The Green Wave took sixth at the Conference USA Championships and gained its first Top 10 finish at the NCAA South Central Region Championship – also the school’s first time bringing a full squad to a regional meet.

The 2006 cross country team moved up six places in the Conference USA Championship meet from 2005 and placed two of its team members in the Top 50 at regionals. On the track, eight student-athletes moved up onto the Top 10 performances in school history. Highlighting the season was Aubrey Phillips, who set two school records and also scored in two events at the C-USA outdoor championships.

Ohio State head coach Karen Dennis has had nothing but praise for Neal since he joined the Buckeye coaching staff: “Chris is anxious to help us score on the track and improve our position in the conference during the cross country season. As a native of Indiana, he knows the area and has been an avid supporter and fan of The Ohio State University. Having coached through Hurricane Katrina, Chris knows first-hand how to surmount challenges. He brings an undaunting determination to get out in the state, meet coaches, build relationships and recruit Ohio’s best to our great university.”

Prior to Tulane, Neal served as assistant coach at the University of New Orleans from 2005-06. During his time with the Privateers, he coached the Sun Belt Conference cross country individual champion, four track and field individual champions and the team had 10 SBC all-conference performances. His athletes set two conference records and six school records. Neal helped one runner to Louisiana Male Freshman of the Year honors, while the UNO program received the Louisiana Female Runner of the Year and Newcomer of the Year awards.

Before making the trip south, Neal spent one season as an assistant coach at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., during the 2004-05 campaign and served as a volunteer coach during the spring of 2004. While at BSU, he worked with an NCAA national cross country championship qualifier, an outdoor track and field championships qualifier and four conference champions. He coached seven Mid-American Conference individual champions and the runner-up cross country team.

Neal arrived at Ball State in the spring of 2004 as a volunteer coach and helped three runners to MAC Championship individual titles. One runner was a junior national championships qualifier, while another qualified for the NCAA outdoor track & field championship.

Coach Neal earned his bachelor's of science degree in physical education from Eastern Kentucky University in 2003, and earned his master's degree in sports administration from Ball State University in 2005. He is also USATF Level II certified in both the endurance and jumping events. He lettered in cross country at EKU, where he helped the Colonels to the Ohio Valley Conference cross country championship.

Chris and his wife, Carissa, a volunteer assistant with the Buckeyes, reside in Columbus.