Entering his ninth year at the helm of the Nova Southeastern women’s tennis record in 2024-25, Doug Neagle has not only returned the program’s momentum, but has orchestrated the Sharks' rise to consistency among the nation’s top tier.
The 2024 season was one that will be always remembered by Neagle and the NSU Women's Tennis program, as the Sharks won the first NCAA Division II National Championship in program history, defeating Sunshine State Conference rival Barry, 4-2, and once again setting a program record with 27 wins. The Sharks earned the No, 1 ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Asssociation (ITA) rankings. Despite finishing third in the Sunshine State Conference during the regular season, the Sharks dominated in NCAA tournament play, as NSU outscored opponents 24-3 during the nationals run. Neagle was recognized as the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year, ITA South Region Coach of the Year and ITA National Coach of the Year. Natalie Espinal became the first Sunshine State Conference women's tennis player to be recognized with first-team all-conference honors five times in a career and the fourth to earn first-team doubles honors. Freya Davies joined Espinal as a first-team doubles member and the duo was ranked the second-best doubles tandem in Division II. Lian Benedejcic also was recognized with second-team All-Sunshine State Conference honors.
Neagle led the Sharks to heights never before reached by the Nova Southeastern Women's Tennis program, guiding NSU to the NCAA National Championship during the 2022-23 season. NSU won a program record 26 matches during the campaign, 14 of which came against nationally ranked opponents. Natalie Espinal and Fatima Bizhukova won the ITA Division II Doubles Cup and ITA Division II National title. Under Neagle's tutelage, six Nova Southeastern Sharks earned Sunshine State Conference honors as Julie Razafindranaly (First-Team), Natalie Espinal (First-Team/First-Team Doubles), Fatima Bizhukova (First-Team Doubles), Karolina Snita (Honorable Mention), Eva Goncharov (Honorable Mention Doubles), and Diane Follin-Arbelet (Honorable Mention Doubles) were all recognized. Additionally, Bizhukova, Espinal and Razafindranaly all earned All-American honors, as well.
During the 2021-22 season, Neagle guided the Sharks to a 25-4 record and to the NCAA Final Four. Julie Razafindranaly was named the Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, while Neagle earned his third consecutive conference Coach of the Year honor. Joining Razafindranaly on the SSC First-Team was Natalie Espinal, while Chantal Nosievici and Karolina Snita were both named to the Second-Team. Nova Southeastern placed the most student-athletes on the ITA All-American teams, as Espinal, Razafindranaly, Nosievici, and Nika Kozar were recognized.
During the 2020-21 season, Neagle earned Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year honors for the second time and he coached three All-Americans, as the program returned to the NCAA Tournament.
Through his first five years in Fort Lauderdale, Neagle has accumulated a 62-33 record and 29-13 mark against the most challenging league slate in the nation – the Sunshine State Conference (SSC), a conference delivering the National Champion in five of the last 10 championships.
The Sharks closed out the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season ranked a program-best No. 3 nationally in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) standings and hold the same ranking into the beginning of the 2021 campaign. The 2020 Sharks defeated five ranked programs en route to a 13-1 record in the shortened season, notching a 4-0 mark in SSC play. Their lone loss came in Edmond, Okla. at the ITA DII Indoor Championships on a tight setback against defending champion Barry. The Sharks earned victory in 86.1 percent of 2020 singles matches and 85 percent of doubles outings, earning nine victories via sweep.
The Sharks produced a phenomenal fall 2019 output that saw Natalie Espinal and Sarah Wardenburg earn the nation's No. 1 doubles ranking and emerge victorious as the first program DII Champions at the ITA Cup in Rome, Ga. Espinal and Wardenburg would later be named ITA Doubles All-Americans, while Espinal joined Karolina Snita with Singles All-America accolades - making Espinal the first Shark and SSC player to earn both doubles and singles honors in the same year. It was also the first time in program history that the Sharks boasted three All-American honorees. Individually, Espinal also ranked at No. 4 in the ITA singles rankings, defeating the No. 1 player in NCAA Division II, Berta Bonardi, en route to a Runner-Up finish at the ITA South Region Championships in the fall.
Neagle was named the 2019 Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the 2018-19 Sharks program to a 22-5 record, tying the 2007 squad for the most wins in program history. In addition, the 2019 Sharks carried a 12-win turnaround to NSU’s the first-ever NCAA Regional Final and just the second-ever finish as Sunshine State Conference runner-up. Under Neagle’s leadership, the Sharks received five SSC all-conference honors and boasted four players with at least 17 singles wins – headed by first-year record-holder Chantal Nosievici at 21-3. The Sharks knocked out 14 consecutive wins to open the season and ranked as high as No. 3 nationally.
Neagle mentored then-freshman Espinal to selection as the 2019 ITA South Region Rookie of the Year, in addition to accolades as SSC Freshman of the Year and All-SSC first team, racking up a 20-5 singles record at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, also finishing 19-2 in 1-2 doubles.
In addition, Neagle’s NSU student-athletes have garnered 12 All-Sunshine State Conference honors, with two winning one of the league’s top awards – Espinal’s rookie accolades in 2019 and Luicelena Perez as 2017 SSC Player of the Year, both program firsts for the Sharks. In the classroom, the Sharks enter 2020-21 on an academic high note, earning a 3.41 collective GPA to during the 2019-20 academic year and earning recognition as an ITA All-Academic Team. Under Neagle’s direction, the Sharks have also produced 14 ITA Scholar-Athlete honorees, 26 members of the SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll and Ana Navas was named to the 2019 CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District team.
Neagle made his NSU coaching debut in 2017 with a 9-9 record on marquee wins against No. 4 Saint Leo and No. 43 Tarleton State. With a 5-4 record against the formidable Sunshine State Conference, the Sharks claimed the fourth seed in the SSC Tournament. That season, Simone Pratt and Nastassia Rubel became the fourth pair, first since 2011, to win their first 10 matches and the first duo in program history to go undefeated (14-0). In addition to her program-first SSC Player of the Year honors, Luicelena Perez became the second singles player in program history to go undefeated, (17-0). At the end of the year, Perez notched the second-highest national rank in program history, No. 3, and was the top singles player in the south region.
A seasoned coaching veteran with experience ranging from high school to all three divisions of the NCAA, Neagle brought the steady hand of over 20 years of experience to the NSU women's tennis program. Before his debut in the Sunshine State, Neagle spent the prior seven years as the head coach of Towson women's tennis, leading the program to 78 victories – recording the second-most career wins in the program’s history. Neagle led the Tigers to five winning seasons and six seasons with at least 10 or more wins. In 2016, Neagle pushed his team to a 13-9 overall record and the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament quarterfinals. Two of his players, Nicole Shakhnazarova and Lucy Williams, both earned All-CAA honors marking the first time since joining the CAA that two players collected all-conference honors in the same season.
Prior to Towson, Neagle spent one season (2009) with University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) as the men's and women's associate head coach, was associate head men's coach at the US Naval Academy (1998-99) - helping the Midshipmen to the Patriot League Championship and the team’s first NCAA appearance - and was the head men's coach at Pomona-Pitzer in California (1997-98) - leading the men's team to a No. 12 national ranking in Division III. He has coached at the high school level too, serving as the men's and women's head coach at Severn School in Maryland from 1999-2004. Neagle has also worked as Director of Tennis and Head Tennis Pro for various clubs for over 14 years.
An accomplished collegian, Neagle played his college tennis for Coach John Browning at Salisbury University on Maryland’s eastern shore. During his playing career as a Sea Gull, he was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American. In 1996, finished eighth in DIII singles and 12th in doubles. In 1997, he was fifth in singles and fourth in doubles. After his collegiate playing career, Neagle went on to play on the French Satellite/Money Tour during the summer of 1997. In recognition of his stellar career, Neagle was inducted into the Salisbury University Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
A USPTA Certified Tennis Teaching Professional, Neagle has represented the Mid-Atlantic section and helped win "The Talbert Cup" against the Middle States, New England, and Eastern Sections during the summers of 2012, 2014 and 2015. A 1997 graduate, Neagle received his bachelor's in physical education at Salisbury.
He lives with his wife and daughter in Plantation, Florida.
NEAGLE CAREER TENNIS HEAD COACH RECORD
| TEAM |
YEAR |
W |
L |
PCT |
CONF |
CONF |
CONF |
Notes |
| W |
L |
PCT |
| NSU |
2024 |
27 |
4 |
0.871 |
7 |
2 |
0.778 |
NCAA Division II National Champions; NCAA South Region II Champions; Program Record for Wins; Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year, ITA South Region Coach of the Year, ITA National Coach of the Year |
| NSU |
2023 |
26 |
4 |
.867 |
8 |
1 |
.889 |
NCAA Division II National Finalists, NCAA South Region II Champions, program record for wins |
| NSU |
2022 |
25 |
4 |
.862 |
8 |
1 |
.889 |
NCAA Division II National Semifinalists, NCAA South Region II Champions |
| NSU |
2021 |
9 |
3 |
.750 |
8 |
1 |
.889 |
2021 SSC Coach of the Year, SSC Runner-Up, NCAA South Regional appearance |
| NSU |
2020 |
13 |
1 |
.929 |
4 |
0 |
1.000 |
No. 3 Nationally |
| NSU |
2019 |
22 |
5 |
.815 |
7 |
3 |
.700 |
2019 SSC Coach of the Year, SSC Runner-Up,
NCAA South Regional Host, No. 6 Nationally |
| NSU |
2018 |
9 |
15 |
.375 |
5 |
5 |
.500 |
|
| NSU |
2017 |
9 |
9 |
.500 |
5 |
4 |
.556 |
|
| TU |
2016 |
13 |
9 |
.591 |
3 |
4 |
.429 |
|
| TU |
2015 |
12 |
9 |
.571 |
3 |
2 |
.600 |
|
| TU |
2014 |
11 |
10 |
.524 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
|
| TU |
2013 |
12 |
10 |
.545 |
2 |
5 |
.286 |
|
| TU |
2012 |
12 |
13 |
.480 |
2 |
5 |
.286 |
|
| TU |
2011 |
14 |
8 |
.636 |
3 |
2 |
.600 |
Most TU Victories since 2002 |
| TU |
2010 |
4 |
19 |
.174 |
0 |
7 |
.000 |
|
| Pomona-Pitzer |
1998 |
11 |
9 |
0.550 |
|
|
|
Men's Tennis Head Coach |
|
| NSU |
|
140 |
45 |
0.757 |
51 |
17 |
0.750 |
|
| TU |
|
78 |
78 |
0.500 |
13 |
25 |
0.342 |
|
| Pomona-Pitzer |
|
11 |
9 |
0.550 |
|
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
- |
229 |
134 |
0.630 |
64 |
42 |
0.603 |
|
