Kyle Neptune

Neptune attended Brooklyn Friends School, and was a member of the school's 2003 State Championship team, recording a school record in points with 1,650.[2] He would play collegiately at Lehigh under Billy Taylor where he was a member of the Mountain Hawks' 2004 NCAA tournament team.[3][4]

Neptune's coaching career began in 2008 as a video coordinator under Jay Wright at Villanova and was on staff for the Wildcats' 2009 Final Four appearance.[5] In 2010, he joined Joe Mihalich's staff at Niagara for three seasons before returning to Villanova as an assistant coach for eight seasons.[2] During his time as an assistant coach, the Wildcats earned five Big East men's basketball tournament titles, as well as two national championships in 2016 and 2018.[5]

On March 30, 2021, Neptune was named the head coach at Fordham, replacing Jeff Neubauer.[6][7] Neptune would serve only one season at Fordham, as he was announced as Villanova's new head coach on April 20, 2022, following Wright's retirement.[1]

On December 17, 2022, Neptune became the first Villanova men's basketball coach since Jack Kraft in 1962 to win a share of the Philadelphia Big 5 basketball title in his first year as coach of the program.[8] On December 21, 2022, Neptune continued the tradition of every Villanova Basketball coach winning their first Big East conference game with a 78–63 victory over St. John's.[9] He joined Rollie Massimino who defeated Providence College 68-49 on December 6, 1980, in his first Big East conference game,[10] Steve Lappas who, on January 2, 1993, won on the road at 12th ranked Syracuse 79-61 in his first Big East conference game,[11] and Hall of Famer Jay Wright who defeated Providence College 76-57 on January 2, 2002, in his fist Big East conference game.[12][13]

Gameday attire: Jay Wright retired in April 2022. Among the reasons stated by Wright was “burn out.”[14] Prior to 2021, Wright was long considered one of the best dressed coaches in college basketball.[15] However, beginning in the pandemic shortened 2020-2021 season, and into his season of burn out, Wright began to wear “athleisure wear” on the sidelines.[16] This was controversial amongst the Villanova Community.[17] When Neptune was hired, he was informed by Villanova University President, Father Peter M. Donohue, that he had to return to wearing a suit for games. [18] While coaching at Fordham, prior to being hired as head coach of Villanova, Neptune wore a suit as his gameday attire.[19] The return of the suits was viewed as a positive within the Villanova community, including former Villanova national championship winning Center, Daniel Ochefu, who tweeted "Very tuff Nep! Bring the suits back pls!"[20]