Mike McNeill began in his role as men's soccer assistant coach in September 2022.
With McNeill back for his second year, the squad saw improvement as the team rose three slots in the Pacific West Conference standings. McNeill helped coach Gilly Miller and watched him finish off his impressive ART U career, and the talented freshman in Joey Glaab stepped up this year and exceeded expectations. The pair received All-PacWest Second Team honors for their strong efforts, as the duo co-led the squad in points on the year (12). McNeill also helped Miller additionally become the seventh Urban Knight all time to be named the
PacWest Player of the Week for Academy of Art men's soccer and the first since
2015. Helping lead the team off the field as well, McNeill saw seven members of the squad earn
2023-24 Academic All-PacWest Team honors.
In McNeill’s debut season, Academy of Art’s highlights included a three-match win streak, new program records from Gilly Miller, the conclusion of seven seniors’ careers, and academic success in 2022. The Urban Knights’ three consecutive wins were all shutouts led by
PacWest Defender of the Week Davis King as ART U topped Cal State East Bay (Sept. 10), Cal Poly Humbolt (Sept. 12), and William Jessup (Sept. 15) in a matter of five days during the non-conference season. En route to being named both
D2CCA All-West Region Second Team and
All-PacWest Second Team, Miller broke the program’s single-season goals (10, second in PacWest) and points (26, third in PacWest) records after registering at least one point in 12 of 18 matches. The septet of King, Gilli Kristjansson, JJ Cortez, Christian Schaffner, Breki Einarsson, Fannar Omarsson, and Logi Saemundsson closed out a combined 325 matches played. Men's soccer ended the year with 11 honorees on the
Academic All-PacWest Team.
A
UEFA A licensed coach from the Football Association of Ireland,
McNeill is executive director of San Francisco Glens Soccer Club; one of top player development academies on the West Coast that offers a robust youth program, MLS Next Academy and a USL League 2 first team.
McNeill himself has been awarded
NSCAA West Region Coach of the Year in 2017 and the Steve
Mariucci High School Coach of the Year award in 2021.
Prior to his roles with the Glens, McNeill served as a goalkeeper coach with University of San Francisco and his alma mater SF State. His 2014 season with the Dons saw the team finish 11-6-2 overall while goalie Chase Hauser, an All-WCC Honorable Mention, posted a 1.07 goals against average with 66 saves and five solo shutouts in 18 starts between the pipes.
While earning his bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from SF State, McNeill was a team captain who started 29 matches.
