After 21 seasons on the job in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Joye Lee-McNelis is stepping away from the Southern Miss sidelines. The Golden Eagles announced Tuesday afternoon that McNelis, 62, is retiring after four decades in coaching.
McNelis – who also played at Southern Miss, finishing her stint on the court as the program’s second all-time leading scorer – began her career as an assistant coach at Texas State, then returned to the Golden Eagles as an assistant and helped them make three NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1991, she took the reins at Memphis at just the age of 28 and led the Tigers to four March Madness bids.
In 2004, McNelis returned to Southern Miss – becoming just the fourth head coach in program history – and has been there ever since. She led the Golden Eagles to the Sun Belt regular season title in 2023, their first season in the league, and last year was honored with the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for coaching Southern Miss to a 20-win season and a WNIT appearance while taking on her third battle with cancer.
McNelis retires with 567 wins, two conference Coach of the Year awards and 14 postseason appearances. Her win total puts her at 38th all-time amongst all Division I women’s basketball coaches.
“Coaching at Southern Miss has been more than just a profession — it has been a dream realized,” McNelis said in a statement. “From the time I was a young girl, basketball has shaped my life in immeasurable ways, and having the opportunity to lead this program has been one of my greatest honors. More than just the Xs and Os, this journey has been about building relationships, mentoring young women and watching them grow into confident, successful individuals both on and off the court.”
Southern Miss is just 9-19 this season and it’s unclear what the program will look like in the future without McNelis’ presence.
But many in coaching circles see the Sun Belt as a league that can be a stepping stone to a better job.
“You can convince yourself that you can climb to the top five in that league pretty quickly,” one longtime college assistant coach told SB Nation. “If Troy can be a mainstay, why not Southern Miss? … Now, investment matters.”
Indeed, according to the Hattiesburg American, McNelis made less than $200,000 per year. For comparison at another Sun Belt school, James Madison’s Sean O’Regan makes $255,505 per year, according to the Virginian Pilot. O’Regan led the Dukes to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023 and is eyeing a second trip this March. The Dukes are 25-4 overall, undefeated in conference play and receiving votes in the AP Top 25 Poll.
But success in the Sun Belt can lead to bigger and better things. After just one season at Marshall, where she went 26-7 and made the NCAA Tournament, Kim Caldwell got the Tennessee job. It’s likely that O’Regan might get a call or two this offseason about Power 4 openings too.
The Sun Belt can also be a place where, if you simply win more than you lose, you can enjoy a good bit of job security. McNelis was at Southern Miss for more than two decades and never made an NCAA Tournament. Chanda Rigby has a 61.8 winning percentage and three March Madness berths in 13 seasons at Troy.
All that said, here’s a few names that make sense to succeed McNelis.
Ayla Guzzardo
About two hours southwest of Hattiesburg in Hammond, Louisiana, Guzzardo is enjoying success at Southeastern Louisiana and just captured her second regular season conference title. After the Lions had losing records in 22 of their last 24 seasons, Guzzardo has guided them to five straight winning campaigns. Additionally, SE Louisiana’s lone NCAA Tournament berth came under her watch in 2023. A Louisiana native who played and served as an assistant coach at Akron, Guzzardo has proven that she can win at the mid-major level in this geographic footprint.
Itoro Coleman
A native of Georgia and an All-ACC star at Clemson, Coleman has coached all over the country over the past 25 years, from Butler to Penn State to Marquette to North Carolina to now at Virginia Tech, where she’s the associate head coach under Megan Duffy. Coleman’s previous tenure as a head coach was a rough one – where she went 25-63 in three seasons leading her alma mater – but she’s a good recruiter and has a knack for working with guards. Last offseason, she was a finalist for the opening at Stony Brook, but the gig ultimately went to Joy McCorvey. Southern Miss could be a solid fit if Coleman still wants to sit in the first seat on the bench.
Courtney Simmons
Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain was the AD at Troy when Simmons – as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator – helped the Trojans go to a pair of NCAA Tournaments. She helped Troy punch a ticket to the Big Dance one more time as an understudy of Rigby before leaving for the head coaching gig at Grambling State where she guided the Tigers to a 23-10 mark last season – their most wins since 1999 – and a berth in the WNIT. A tough non-conference slate will prevent Grambling from having a sterling overall record this season, but they’re 8-6 in the SWAC. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who played at Louisville, Simmons knows the south, knows the Sun Belt and knows how to coach.
