Shannon Wyckoff-McNeal was named the 12th head coach of the Nevada volleyball program on Dec. 27, 2023.
Wyckoff-McNeal comes to Nevada from Washington State, where she served on the volleyball staff since 2011. Following a two-year stint as a volunteer coach, Hunt was promoted to her current role as assistant coach in 2013.
Wyckoff-McNeal helped engineer a major turnaround of the Washington State program over the past decade, culminating in the Cougars finishing 26-8 overall in 2023, the most wins for any team under head coach Jen Greeny, and 14-6 in Pac-12 play, tying the program record for single-season conference wins for the second-straight year.
"Shannon Wyckoff-McNeal brings a championship resume at every level of her coaching and playing career. From the start of this national search, we knew she was the right fit to lead Nevada Volleyball," Nevada Athletic Director Stephanie Rempe said upon Wyckoff-McNeal's hire. "Her work in helping rebuild Washington State into a national contender speaks volumes for what she will bring to Nevada. Shannon is familiar with the area, knows the importance of a strong relationship with our campus and our community, and is dedicated to building a winning culture. She is ready to immerse herself in northern Nevada and I am excited for Shannon to join the Wolf Pack."
The 10th-ranked Washington State squad opened the 2023 NCAA Tournament against Grand Canyon, earning its third-consecutive first-round sweep, and going on to host Dayton to book its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2018, the second in Wyckoff-McNeal's tenure, and the fifth all-time appearance in program history. The Cougars would fall to top-seeded Pittsburgh in the regional semifinal, and finished the season with a program-record .289 team hitting percentage.
Under the guidance of Wyckoff-McNeal, the Cougar volleyball program made eight-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (2016-23), the most in program history since her return to her alma mater. Over that eight-year span, Washington State was the only Pac-12 program to qualify for each season's NCAA Tournament.
Washington State's 14 Pac-12 wins in 2022 also tied the existing program record for single-season conference wins while the Cougars' third-place finish was its best Pac-12 finish since 2002.
At Washington State, Wyckoff-McNeal helped guide Alexis Dirige to becoming the program's all-time leader with 2,512 career digs from 2016-19. Dirige owned three of the top four single-season dig totals including a WSU record of 569 digs during her sophomore campaign in 2017. Wyckoff-McNeal coached five of the top-10 all-time career digs leaders and 14 all-conference players during her time in Pullman.
Prior to her return to Pullman, Wyckoff-McNeal was the head volleyball coach at Hockinson High School in Brush Prairie, Washington form 2004-2010. At Hockinson, Wyckoff-McNeal led two Hawks' volleyball teams to state championship tournaments and saw five players play collegiately after their prep volleyball careers.
From 2000-2003, Wyckoff-McNeal taught and coached in the Vancouver, Wash., area as the head coach at Prairie High School, earning one state championship berth, and was later inducted into the Prairie High School Hall of Fame in January 2015.
As a student-athlete from 1994-1997, Wyckoff-McNeal helped the Cougars volleyball team earn four consecutive NCAA Tournament bids with one sweet sixteen finish and the program's first trip to the NCAA elite eight. In addition to becoming the first Washington State player to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career, her 3.24 digs/set over her four-year career still ranks as the fifth-best average for a single season in WSU history. She graduated as the program's all-time leader in career digs (1,254) and was voted a CoSIDA Academic All-American honoree and a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection.
Wyckoff-McNeal earned her bachelor's degree in education from Washington State in 1998. She has two sons, Grayson and Austin.
