Saint Francis University Women's Basketball

Raphael McNeill was promoted to head coach of the Saint Francis women’s basketball program in April 2026 after serving as the acting head coach for the final six games of the 2025-26 season. McNeill is the 10th head coach in program history as Saint Francis enters its 39th season of women’s basketball. He also becomes the first head coach to lead the program into its transition to NCAA Division III and the Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) for the 2026-27 season. McNeill helped Saint Francis close out its time in the Northeast Conference (NEC) and NCAA Division I with a historic victory in its final home game of the 2025-26 season. On February 28, Saint Francis defeated Central Connecticut State, 82-63, to earn the program’s 400th regular-season NEC victory, making Saint Francis the only program in league history to reach that milestone. The win also clinched the 31st NEC Tournament appearance in program history. McNeill came to Loretto following two seasons at Riverdale Baptist High School in Maryland. In 2025-26, he served as the varsity girls’ basketball head coach, leading the team to a 24-11 record and a Top 10 ranking in the state. Under McNeill’s leadership, two players earned NCAA Division I scholarship offers, while two additional players received NCAA Division II offers. During the 2023-24 season, McNeill served as the associate head coach of the Riverdale Baptist varsity boys’ basketball team while also leading the junior varsity program as head coach. Prior to his time at Riverdale Baptist, McNeill spent eight seasons as the associate head coach of the men’s basketball program at Livingstone College. During his tenure, Livingstone captured the CIAA Tournament championship in 2014-15. McNeill also recruited and coached Roger Ray, the program’s all-time leading scorer and a CIAA Player of the Year. McNeill began his collegiate coaching career at Virginia Union University, a CIAA member, where he served as an assistant coach during the 2013-14 season. He then spent two seasons as an assistant coach at NJCAA Division I Chesapeake College, where he coached three All-Region XX selections. McNeill began his coaching career at the high school level in Prince George’s County, Maryland, with stops at Suitland High School, C.H. Flowers High School and Largo High School. McNeill began his collegiate playing career at Old Dominion University before transferring to Fayetteville State University. He earned his degree in computer science and mathematics from Fayetteville State in 2001.

Shaun Jones begins her second season on the coaching staff in 2026-27 Jones comes to Loretto after serving as an assistant girls’ varsity head coach under Raphael McNeill last season at Riverdale Baptist High School. She also had a six-year run as the assistant junior varsity/varsity coach at Suitland High School from 2017 to 2023.  Jones has also served as a camp director at the Nike Basketball Camp in Bowie, Md., since 2023, and as a coach at the camp since 2017. Additionally, she served as the Safe Summer Basketball League Director for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission from 2017 to 2019 and as a camp director for the organization from 2017 to 2021. Jones worked men’s basketball camps at Stanford (2023) and Marquette (2022). Jones got her start in coaching as a women’s basketball student assistant for the 2016-17 season. Jones earned her bachelor’s degree in sports management from Bowie State University in 2021.