Dan MacNeill begins his 15th season as SUNY Cortland’s head football coach in 2011. His teams are a combined 90-52 and have made eight postseason appearances, including four NCAA tournament showings. He ranks first at Cortland with a .634 winning percentage and second in career victories.
In 2010, he led Cortland to a 10-2 record and the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. His squad earned an NCAA automatic berth after tying for the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) title with an 8-1 mark - the fifth time in six years that the Red Dragons finished in at least a tie for first in the conference standings.
In 2008, MacNeill guided the Red Dragons to one of the best seasons in school history. Cortland finished 11-2, including two victories in the NCAA Division III playoffs before falling at eventual national champion Mount Union in the quarterfinals. Both the 11 wins and the quarterfinal appearance 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. 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 in 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 seven victories against rival Ithaca College in the annual “Cortaca Jug” game.
MacNeill has coached 20 All-Americans, 66 All-East and 57 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 150 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, Bryan Wiley as the 2009 NJAC Defensive Player of the Year and Justin Autera as the 2010 NJAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year.
An assistant coach at Division I-AA Villanova University from 1984-96, 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.
