Lenoir-Rhyne University Athletics

Following his graduation from Statesville High School, Neill McGeachy began his Bear athletic venture on the basketball team. He was a three-year starter for Head Coach and Hall of Famer Billy Wells and helped lead L-R to two regular season and two Carolina Conference tournament titles. McGeachy, a 1,000 point scorer in his career, was twice chosen to the All-District 26 squad and served as team co-captain his junior and senior years.  As a junior, McGeachy decided to take up football as well and became an all-star receiver for the Bears.  In his senior year, he earned All-American honors while setting a Conference Carolinas record for receiving yards in a season with 736.  After graduation, McGeachy spent three years of coaching at Statesville High School in between tryouts with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the ABA's Carolina Cougars.  He then entered the college coaching ranks as an assistant under Terry Holland at Davidson College.  In McGeachy's two years at Davidson, the Wildcats won two Southern Conference titles.  In 1971, McGeachy became head freshman basketball coach at Duke University and was elevated to top assistant in 1972.  The very next year, he served as the Blue Devils' Head Coach and led the team to the school's 1,000th all-time win - at the time only the eighth school to breech the mark.  After a year as Duke's Head Coach, McGeachy joined Carl Tacy's staff at Wake Forest before leaving coaching at the end of the 1976 season.  An avid tennis enthusiast, McGeachy and his son, Roderick, won two North Carolina Father/Son Championships and have competed in the national championships as well.  McGeachy also served as President of the North Carolina Tennis Foundation.  McGeachy was also founder and president of Sugar Creek Enterprises, Inc., a sports promotion firm.  McGeachy was director of marketing with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Southern Section in Atlanta, Ga., from 1997-2002 and was inducted into the North Carolina Tennis Hall Of Fame in 1999.  Finally, McGeachy served as LR's Athletics Director from 2002 to 2016, taking the department to new heights.  McGeachy transformed athletics at Lenoir-Rhyne, increasing the number of sports from 12 to 22 and spearheading many facility upgrades, just to name a few.  McGeachy, who was awarded an honorary doctorate from LR in 2016, also served as Executive Director of the Piedmont Educational Foundation.