Dan MacNeill begins his 13th season as SUNY Cortland’s head football coach in 2009. His teams are a combined 80-46 and have made seven postseason appearances, including three NCAA tournament showings. His 80 victories rank second all-time at Cortland and his .635 winning percentage is best in school history.
MacNeill led Cortland to one of the best seasons in school history in 2008. The Red Dragons finished 11-2, including two victories in the NCAA Division III playoffs before losing at eventual national champion Mount Union in the national quarterfinals. Both the 11 victories and the quarterfinal showing matched school records. Cortland was recognized as the top Division III team in the East by winning both the Lambert Trophy and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Team of the Year awards.
Cortland won the 2008 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) title with a 9-0 record, marking the fourth straight year the Red Dragons finished at least tied for first in the league standings. MacNeill was chosen as the NJAC Coach of the Year and was one of five finalists for Liberty Mutual Division III National Coach of the Year honors.
In 2007, MacNeill's squad finished 8-3 and won the ECAC Division III Northeast Bowl. The previous fall, he guided the Red Dragons to a 9-2 record and an ECAC Division III Northeast Bowl bid. Cortland failed to receive an NCAA berth despite a 9-1 regular-season mark.
In 2005, MacNeill led the Red Dragons to a 7-2 regular-season record. Cortland earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs and finished the season 7-3. Cortland’s other NCAA appearance under MacNeill came during an 8-3 campaign during his first season in 1997.
In 2002, MacNeill led the Red Dragons to a 9-2 mark and the ECAC Division III Northwest title. The team also placed second in the NJAC with a 4-2 record. In 2003, Cortland finished the regular season with a 5-4 mark before losing in the ECAC Northwest championship game.
Among MacNeill’s other highlights at Cortland are a 32-31 win over nationally second-ranked and eventual national semifinalist Rowan University in the 2001 season and six victories against rival Ithaca College in the annual “Cortaca Jug” game.
MacNeill has coached 16 All-Americans, 56 All-East and 52 All-ECAC players at Cortland. Those players included defensive tackle Adam Haas, who was a 2006 Gagliardi Trophy national Player of the Year finalist, 1997 ECAC Upstate New York Player of the Year Omar Darling and 2007 ECAC Southeast Rookie of the Year Brian Haas.
In addition, MacNeill's players have earned 122 All-NJAC honors since the program joined the league in 2000, highlighted by the selection of Adam Haas as the 2005 NJAC Defensive Player of the Year.
An assistant coach at Division I-AA Villanova University from 1984-1996, MacNeill is Cortland’s 11th head coach since the school’s modern era of football began in 1924. MacNeill served as linebackers coach at Villanova and was the team’s defensive coordinator from 1988-96.
One of the nation’s top defensive coaches, MacNeill’s charges consistently ranked among the best defensive teams in the Yankee Conference. His 1991 squad finished the year first nationally in scoring defense, second in total defense and fifth in rushing defense while leading the Yankee Conference in every defensive category. The Wildcats placed first nationally in rushing defense in 1992. In 1996, Villanova finished 8-4 and earned a berth in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
While at Villanova, MacNeill coached three AFCA/Kodak First Team All-Americans, one Associated Press All-American, six first team All-Yankee Conference performers, six first team All-ECAC selections and one player who went on to the NFL. He received a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Villanova in 1994.
A 1979 Cortland graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, MacNeill was a four-year Red Dragon letterwinner and three-year starter at linebacker and defensive tackle. He served as a team tri-captain during his senior campaign in 1978. In his last varsity game against Southern Connecticut State, he was credited with 11 unassisted tackles and three quarterback sacks.
MacNeill began his football coaching career as an assistant at Port Byron (N.Y.) Central High School from 1980 to 1982, prior to being named as a graduate assistant coach at Ithaca College. He coached Ithaca’s junior varsity team in 1982 and was in charge of the Bombers’ receivers in 1983.
A native of Walton, N.Y., MacNeill was an all-league defensive end at Walton Central High School as a senior in 1974. MacNeill and his wife, Sherrie, have two daughters -- Mikayla and Maura.
