The Southern Miss community is mourning the death of longtime women’s basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis.
McNelis, who retired at the end of the 2024-25 season, passed away on Tuesday. She was 63.
McNelis had battled her third stint of lung cancer through the last two seasons. The school announced her passing on social media.
Those who knew McNelis will forever remember her loyalty, fierce competitive nature and love for her alma mater as she famously left her successful program in Memphis to return to Southern Miss – a position she held for 21 seasons.
A native of Leetown, Miss., McNelis arrived in Hattiesburg 45 years ago as a freshman in the Lady Eagle program. As a player, she guided the school to its first-ever postseason tournament in 1980-81 and ended her career with the second-most points in school history.
McNelis later returned to work as an assistant coach under her mentor Kay James, where she helped the program make three NCAA tournament appearances. At 28 years old, she took her first head coaching job at Memphis State and, in 13 seasons, accumulated 229 wins and four berths to the NCAA tournament. For her impact on the program, she was recently inducted into the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
After turning down multiple Power 4 job offers, McNelis opted to return to Hattiesburg to lead the Lady Eagles’ program in 2004. As Southern Miss’ head coach, McNelis has led the program to a Sun Belt regular title in 2022 and six WNIT appearances.
In 34 seasons as a Division I head coach, McNelis made 14 postseason appearances, won two Coach of the Year titles, had 45 players named to all-conference lists, two players named player of the year, and sent 13 former players to the professional ranks. She also retired as one of 61 coaches in the history of women's basketball to win over 550 games.
Visitation will be held at Temple Baptist Church on Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Service will be held at Temple Baptist Church on Saturday 28th at 1:30 p.m. followed by graveside service in Lee Town at Lee’s chapel number 2.
