Hokie Club Brian Neal, who is originally from Forest, Virginia, joined the Virginia Tech baseball program for the 2019 season as the senior director of strength and condition. Neal, who is originally from Forest, Virginia, played football at Bridgewater College and played for the DIII national championship in 2001 before starting his professional career.
He was a graduate assistant at Southern Miss (2005-07), was an intern for the US Olympic Training Center in 2007 – training Olympic and Paralympic athletes for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and worked as an assistant strength coach at Sam Houston for three seasons, helping the track and field programs win a handful of championships.
Neal comes to Blacksburg from his latest stop in Starkville, Mississippi where he worked for the Bulldogs baseball program the past eight seasons. In his time there, Mississippi State earned seven NCAA tournament bids, played in five Super Regionals and made two trips to the College World Series. They also won the SEC title in 2012 as well as had four first round MLB draft selections.
"Brian is a really big get for us from a baseball perspective," head baseball coach John Szefc said. "He's just good across the board at weight training, conditioning, flexibility, but in particularly, I think, in looking at him, his specialty is baseball.
"He just got done working with Mississippi State baseball for eight years and he's been to Omaha twice with them. When we talk about building culture and having a baseball guy here that understands the throwing athlete, he is absolutely that. Plus, he has great passion for this place because he's from Virginia."
"It's always been something I wanted to do, kind of the end goal for me professionally, come back closer to family, but also build on the already great tradition of Virginia Tech especially within the Olympic sports," Neal said. "Mississippi State has a rich history with baseball. What I learned from there is what championship baseball programs look like and coming back here – we now have a championship program type coach, facilities, staff and now we just want to build that championship culture moving forward."
He was a graduate assistant at Southern Miss (2005-07), was an intern for the US Olympic Training Center in 2007 – training Olympic and Paralympic athletes for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and worked as an assistant strength coach at Sam Houston for three seasons, helping the track and field programs win a handful of championships.
Neal comes to Blacksburg from his latest stop in Starkville, Mississippi where he worked for the Bulldogs baseball program the past eight seasons. In his time there, Mississippi State earned seven NCAA tournament bids, played in five Super Regionals and made two trips to the College World Series. They also won the SEC title in 2012 as well as had four first round MLB draft selections.
"Brian is a really big get for us from a baseball perspective," head baseball coach John Szefc said. "He's just good across the board at weight training, conditioning, flexibility, but in particularly, I think, in looking at him, his specialty is baseball.
"He just got done working with Mississippi State baseball for eight years and he's been to Omaha twice with them. When we talk about building culture and having a baseball guy here that understands the throwing athlete, he is absolutely that. Plus, he has great passion for this place because he's from Virginia."
"It's always been something I wanted to do, kind of the end goal for me professionally, come back closer to family, but also build on the already great tradition of Virginia Tech especially within the Olympic sports," Neal said. "Mississippi State has a rich history with baseball. What I learned from there is what championship baseball programs look like and coming back here – we now have a championship program type coach, facilities, staff and now we just want to build that championship culture moving forward."