Women's Basketball

Freed-Hardeman University

158 E. Main - Henderson, TN - 38340
Team Office: Tel: (731) 989-6903 Fax: (731) 989-6910
Team website: www.fhu.edu/athletics/index.asp

Freed-Hardeman is a private, Christian (Church of Christ) undergraduate institution that offers over 40 Bachelor degrees and graduate degrees in education, counseling, and ministry. Other major offered include Computer and Information Sciences, Public Relations & Organizational Communication, Nursing, and Theatre. US News 2008 report on America's Best Colleges ranked Freed-Hardeman #32 among universities in the south offering a Master's degree.

The small town 96 acre campus is located in Henderson (pop. 6,000) about 100 miles east of Memphis.

School website
www.fhu.edu

College Profile

Type:

Private, Co-educational

Religious Affiliation:

Yes, Church of Christ

Enrollment:

2,030

Getting In:

Moderately Difficult. ACT 25/75: 20-26

Tuition + Room & Board:

In-state: ~$20,000
Out-of-State: Same

Most Popular Majors

Business - Multi-Discipline - Theology

Misc. Information

Head Coach Dale Neal has 39 years of coaching experience while completing his 14th year in 2007-08 at Freed-Hardeman. Prior to his arrival, Neal coached 11 years at York College (D3) where he compiled a 230-96 (.706) record and received seven coach of the year honors. When Neal arrived in 1994-95, he inherited a team with a dismal past, posting just three winning seasons in the previous 15 years. In his first season, Neal led the team to its first ever 20 win season and currently has twelve consecutive 20+ win seasons under his belt including 12 straight NAIA post season appearances. And, for the last 12 years, Neal's teams have been ranked among the top 25 eleven times. In 2007-08, the Lady Lions posted a 27-7 record and were beaten in the Final 4 of the NAIA I playoffs byTrevecca Nazarene.

Team Name	Lady Lions
Colors	Maroon and White
Division	NAIA I
All-Time Record	487-350 (.581)

Recent Record (Last 8 Years)

	Last Yr	Last Yr - 1	Last Yr - 2	Previous 5 Years
Overall	27-7	21-11	32-3	143-37 (.794)
Conference	14-4	13-5	11-1	58-15 (.794)
Conf. Finish	2	3	1	1, 1, 2, 3, 2
Post Appear.	Final 4	1st Rnd	Elite 8	NAIA 5x
Final 25 Rank	#7	#15	#2	5x

Coaches

Head Coach	Dale Neal
	Birthday: 1946-05-02
Started at Freed-Hardeman	1994-95
Contract Expires	Yearly
Record as Head Coach	593-221 (.728)
Record at Freed-Hardeman	363-125 (.744)
Coaching Awards	TransSouth COTY 4x

Asst. Coaches	Heather Beard

Recruiting Coordinator

Dale Neal, (731) 989-6903, dneal@fhu.edu

Conference and Schedule

Freed-Hardeman plays in the TransSouth Athletic Conference (www.transouth.org) which is made up of 10 teams from Mississippi, Kentucky, Tenessee, and Arkansas. For its size, the conference is highly competitive. The Lady Lions play a 18 game conference schedule which begins in January. League games are usually played on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon and are piggyback with the men's. The farthest game is at Batesville (AR) some 250 miles from Henderson. Over the past few seasons, however, the Lady Lions have played non-conference opponents in the Bahamas, Hawaii, Virgin Islands, Orlando, Los Angeles, and Cancun. The season concludes with the TransSouth tourney which includes all teams. The higher seed gets home court advantage with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament.

Conference Opponents

Cumberland University, Blue Mountain College, Lyon Collge, Martin Methodist College, Trevecca Nazarene University, Lambuth University, MidContinent University, Bethel College, and Union University.

Facilities

Sports Center
Capacity: 3,000, Average attendance: 900

Style/Stats

In 2005-06, Freed-Hardeman was ranked #11 in scoring offense among NAIA I teams at 77.4 ppg and # 1 in defense, holding opponents to 52 ppg. In 2006-07, they were ranked # 12 in offense at 77.8 ppg.