“You aspire to be at the top level,” said former Troy women's basketball assistant coach Neil Harrow. Harrow was a longtime assistant under head coach Chanda Rigby, spending seven seasons at Troy before joining the staff at Sun Belt Conference rival, James Madison, as the associate head coach.
Now after two seasons at JMU, Harrow has leapt to the big stage, joining Curt Miller’s staff at Los Angeles’s own Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, the LA Sparks. Harrow joined the Trojan staff for the 2015-16 season after spending two years in a graduate assistant position at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia.
In Harrow’s first year as part of the program, the Trojans saw their second winning record under a relatively new head coach Rigby at the time, going 20-13. Over the next six seasons, Harrow would help guide the Trojans to three conference tournament championships, two conference regular-season championships and four NCAA national tournament bids.
“I reminisce a lot about those championships, “about the fact that we were able to do things that people didn’t think we were able to do,” said Harrow when asked about his time in Troy. “I miss the underdog, ‘we’re gonna pursue history and do things that haven't been done before [at Troy]’”
After departing Trojan Nation to head up north, Harrow would continue contributing to winning programs. In his two years at JMU, he was a part of the Sun Belt regular season and conference tournament championships team in 2023 and a part of the team that finished runners-up in the 2024 Sun Belt Conference tournament.
In that 2023-24 season, the Dukes of JMU came into Troy to take on the Trojans. Troy was able to win the matchup, beating the Dukes 87-74 on January 13.
“It was a range of different emotions pregame. From the runup, preparation for the game, obviously traveling down there,” Harrow said about the January 13 matchup. "Then, game day, seeing all the old faces, it was just a range of different emotions.”
Now Harrow moves on to the big leagues, joining the WNBA with the LA Sparks, one of the original eight WNBA teams when the league first started in 1997. The Sparks also boast three championships to their name, one away from joining a three-way tie for the most championships as a team. Their last championship came in 2016, on a team loaded with talent.
“It’s just a dream come true,” said Harrow. “To get the opportunity, especially at my age, I’m only 34 so it feels like it happened sooner than I expected but it's just really exciting.”
Upon landing in LA, Harrow plans to do what he’s shown he's one of the best at doing – build a winning culture. The Sparks are entering their second season under Miller, as he coached the team to a fourth-place finish in the west in the 2023 season.
Part of phase two of his rebuilding process? Bring Harrow on board for season two.
When asked about his expectations for the upcoming season, Harrow kept it simple.
“The expectations are to compete and improve and to continue to build a culture with Curt Miller. He just finished his first year and right now it’s about building towards a championship, building towards what we talked about earlier, [which is] building what it takes to be a championship-level team. I think that's what I expect, to continue to build and grow.”
Harrow’s opportunity is a dream come true for many coaches, and Harrow is making sure to soak up every part of the experience.
“I’m going to try to just embrace every single part of it, I could list a hundred things that I’m excited about...The smart thing to do is just be excited about my first day, after that be excited about my second day, and just take it a day at a time."
Harrow’s mindset about taking it one day at a time is a great one to have for anybody on any given day, and just goes to show the kind of person Harrow is – whether it was in Troy, Alabama, Harrisonburg, Virginia, or now in Los Angeles.
The Sparks kick off their preseason with a May 5 matchup against the Seattle Storm before playing host to the Atlanta Dream on May 15 for the start of the regular season. After playing the Dream, the Sparks travel to play defending WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces, in Vegas on May 18.
And, if you have a keen eye, you might be able to spot Harrow and his signature man bun on the bench.
“For two years the barbers were closed, and you couldn't do it. Then I jokingly went ‘Geez, I'm not far away from a bun’ and I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s do it’. There are days when I think about cutting it all off, but I think it’s part of me now so.”
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