Neill Berry joined the High Point University men's basketball staff prior to the 2012-13 season, helping lead the Panthers to their most successful season since joining NCAA Div. I in 1999-2000. HPU went 17-14 overall and won the Big South North Division with a 12-4 record. It was HPU's first Big South title in men's basketball (regular season or tournament) since joining the league. HPU advanced to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, marking the team's first appearance in Div. I postseason play.
The team matched those accolades in 2013-14, winning the Big South North Division, the overall regular season and earning the league’s automatic bid to the NIT.
Berry worked under head coach Darrin Horn for seven years before joining HPU – the first three at Western Kentucky before Horn moved on to South Carolina for the next four years. For two of those seasons – the 2007-08 season at Western Kentucky and the 2008-09 season at South Carolina – Cherry was also on the staff.
Berry rose through the ranks at South Carolina, starting off as Director of Player Development in 2008-09 before moving up to assistant coach the following season.
In his first season as a full-time assistant with South Carolina, Berry helped lead the Gamecocks to an 11-5 home record, a road victory in their SEC opener at Auburn – South Carolina's first victory in a league opener on the road since 1993 – and an upset victory over No. 1 Kentucky. In the summer of 2010, Berry was part of a coaching staff that helped bring in a recruiting class that was ranked No. 17 in the country according to Scout.com.
South Carolina featured one of the youngest teams in the nation in Berry's final two seasons there, but the Gamecocks were still able to notch several highlights. In 2010-11, South Carolina earned overtime victories at Colonial Life Arena over then-No. 22 Vanderbilt and Arkansas, and got an impressive 72-69 road win at Florida. In 2011-12, South Carolina notched SEC wins over Alabama and Georgia. Berry worked extensively with sophomore forward Damontre Harris, who was named to the SEC All-Defensive team.
Berry went directly from his playing career to the coaching profession when he joined Horn at Western Kentucky in 2005. His efforts helped Western Kentucky win the 2006 Sun Belt Conference East Division title for the first time in three seasons, while in 2006-07 Berry again helped the Hilltoppers to a 20-win season as they finished 22-11 (12-6 Sun Belt).
Berry was a full-time assistant coach in 2007-08 as Western Kentucky won the Sun Belt Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. The Hilltoppers posted victories over Drake and San Diego before falling to top-seeded UCLA. Western Kentucky compiled a school-record 29 wins, finishing with an overall record of 29-7. The coaching staff moved on to South Carolina the next season.
A combo guard at Southeastern Louisiana under coach Billy Kennedy (now at Texas A&M) for five seasons, Berry redshirted his third year in preparation for what would be two of the most successful seasons in program history. In Berry's redshirt-junior season of 2003-04, the Lions went 20-9 overall and 11-5 in the Southland Conference. Berry's final playing season marked Southeastern Louisiana's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The team won a school-record 24 games as well as the Southland regular season and tournament titles.
Originally from Jackson, Miss., Berry attended Madison-Ridgeland Academy. He is married to the former Ashly Miller and the couple welcomed a son, Ty Miller Berry, in the spring of 2011.
