After sixteen years of dedication and commitment to coaching basketball at Apex High School, our beloved Coach Neal will unfortunately be leaving the Cougars’ Den. Eight conference titles. Five conference tournament championships. Two eastern regional championships. A state championship. One can clearly see that during his time as coach, he has brought the Cougars to victory, time and time again. Now it is time for a change. Neal is officially stepping down from the position of coach to become an athletic director at the school he received his diploma from, Sanderson High school.

I was able to talk face-to-face with Coach Neal and gain insight on how he felt about both leaving Apex High and making the transition from a coach to an athletic director. When asked about his opportunities at Sanderson, he said, “I found out about the job through a friend of mine, so I decided to apply for it. I thought it was kind of a long shot, but I got an interview, and they offered me the job.  It took me a week to figure out whether or not I was ready to give up coaching, and go into the athletic director role, and I decided I was ready. Although I was not in search for a new job, when my friend told me the job was at Sanderson, which is the school I graduated high school from, I was intrigued about the possibility of returning to my old school.”

Along with his many opportunities at Sanderson, I asked Neal how he felt about the idea of leaving Apex High in pursuit of his new job. His response was, “ Apex has been an incredible place to work for sixteen years. I have been very passionate about coaching basketball here and wish the athletes here the best of luck. I’m going to miss everybody here, and I hope the people at Sanderson are as good as the people here at Apex. I will always be a Cougar, and I will always be cheering them on.”

Neal has been very loyal to Apex High. For years, he has pushed our athletes to be the best they can be. Although a new person will come to replace his position, no one can replace the efforts he has put in for this school. Saying goodbye is certainly a difficult thing to do, but we all wish him the best of luck as he pursues his career of the future!