Bio

Neil Epstein is the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Clinton Community College.  Coach Epstein is no stranger to Junior College athletics as he comes to Plattsburgh from Division II NJCAA West Virginia University Potomac State College.

Epstein spent the past three seasons as Head Men's Basketball coach for Potomac State College. He compiled a 35-32 record during this span. Epstein's teams over the past three years have been one of the best defensive teams in the country. In 2020-2021, his teams were ranked 19th in the country in opponents' field goal percentage only giving up 41% and 13th in the country in opponents 3 pt percentage, just giving up 30%.  All three years he was at the helm, his teams were at least in the top 50 in both categories.

In the 2019-20 season Potomac State College was ranked in the NJCAA national polls reaching as high as number 7 national ranking at the winter break. A few untimely losses down the strech dropped Potomac State from the National Polls before bowing out of the Region XX Tournament in the quarterfinal round. Epstein led PSC to a respectable 17-9 overall record in his first campaign as head coach.

Epstein's team from 2019-2022 featured two 1st Team NJCAA Region XX players, Breland Walton and Joe Bokey.  His teams also had 3 Honorable Mention NJCAA Region XX players Cortney Walton, Malik Lacewell and Isaac James.  Both Cortney Walton and Breland Walton signed scholarship offers with NJCAA Division II Davis and Elkins College following the 2019-2020 season.  Malik Lacewell signed a scholarship offer with NJCAA Division II Bluefield State following the 2021-2022 season.

Prior to Potomac State, during the spring and summer of 2019, Epstein was the Head Coach of the AAU 17U Cap City Scrapers of Albany, NY.  Competing on the Adidas Circuit for the Spring 2019 campaign, he led his team to a 23-10 record, including winning the championship at the Washignton DC Adidas Gauntlet Tournament on Memorial Day Weekend.  Coach Epstein assisted all 11 players from his AAU team in garnering interest and offers from NCAA schools.

In 2018-2019, Espstein served as Assistant Coach at NCAA Division III Southern Vermont College. SVC finished the season 16-9 under Coach Brian Johnson.  Epstein directed player development, helping Andre Hodo earn 1st Team All-New England Collegiate Conference honors and Josh Borders earn 2nd team All-NECC recognition.  Coach Epstein's influence helped Southern Vermont's Donnell Frayer Jr. raise his scoring average to 15.4 ppg.  As the teams academic coordinator, Epstein helped the basketball team at SVC raise their GPA from 2.5 to 3.4 in a single academic year.

During the 2017-2018 season, Coach Epstein held the position of Head Basketball Coach for Believe Sports Academy's B Team in Athens, Tennessee and also assisted with the Academy's National Post-Grad team.  He resumed his head coaching duties when their record was 0-9 and led them on a 14-4 turn-around, finishing the season with 14 wins against 13 losses.

Epstein's leadership of the BSA squad was instrumental in several of the team members being recruited by NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NJCAA schools including: Dexter Dennis (Wichita State), cody Jude (UNC Ashville), Tae Hardy (Eastern Carolina University), Jason Preston (Ohio University), and Prince Shimba (Howard University).

A native of Silver Spring, Maryland, Epstein graduated from Frostburg State University in 2017 with a degree in Liberal Studies, Health and Physical Education concentration. In July 2021, he graduated from Waldorf University with a master's degree in Organizational Leadership and a concentration in Sports Management.  He resides in Plattsburgh.