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Neil Hardin has served seven seasons as men’s
basketball assistant coach at Sam Houston State.
Hardin’s duties include helping plan and run
practice, opponent scouting, recruiting, and off
season individual skill instruction.
A member of Bob Marlin’s staff since Marlin became
head coach in 1998, Hardin has played an important
role in directing the Bearkats to an 85-57 record,
the best record in the Southland Conference the past
five years.
That record includes two Southland Conference
regular season titles and an SLC post-season
tournament victory and NCAA championships appearance
in 2003. The Bearkats have posted victories over
every team in the Southland Conference and
non-league wins over such top teams as Baylor (Big
12), Houston (Conference USA), Montana State (Big
Sky), Chattanooga (Southern), and New Orleans (Sun
Belt). The men’s basketball program earned the
Southland Conference’s highest NCAA Division I RPI
in the past five seasons last year.
“Neil has been one of the main reasons for our
success during the last five years,” said Bob
Marlin. “He has done a good job in all areas, but
specifically in our off-season individual workouts.
He has recruited good players and helped make them
better.”
Hardin is from Pensacola, FL. He worked with current
SHSU Head Basketball Coach Bob Marlin from 1992 to
1995 at Pensacola Junior College and was with Marlin
when the Pirates won the National Junior College
Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championship
in 1992-93. Pensacola produced an overall record of
74 victories and only 22 defeats during those three
seasons, a winning percentage of .771.
Hardin attended the University of West Florida in
Pensacola while working with Coach Marlin and the
Pirates. He received his Bachelor of Science degree
in Sports Science from West Florida in 1995. In
1996, Hardin followed Marlin to the University of
Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he worked as a graduate
assistant. Hardin helped monitor the academic
progress of Crimson Tide student athletes in each
sport. He primarily worked with the men’s basketball
and baseball programs. He also assisted with the
daily Crimson Tide men’s basketball practices.
Hardin earned his Master of Arts degree in Exercise
Physiology from the University of Alabama in 1998.
Hardin is the son of Emery and Celia Hardin. He and
wife, Melissa, who is a Sam Houston State graduate
and played volleyball for the Kats, have a daughter,
Alexis, who was born in July, 2002. |
