Fordham’s first-year head coach is a man in motion all day — every day — planning, coaching, recruiting and fund-raising for a program that is just starting to awaken from three decades of basketball hibernation.
It’s 8 a.m. and Kyle Neptune’s flatscreen television is showing the edited version of La Salle-Richmond. Sitting next to assistant coach Tray Woodall in his Midtown apartment, he attempts to find weaknesses in his team’s next opponent.
It is the start of a 14-hour day for the Brooklyn native and former Villanova assistant coach, one that will include staff and planning meetings, practice, film study and recruiting. Once the day begins, Neptune is nonstop. His phone rarely stops buzzing. Opposing coaches, parents and media members are on the other line.
The man tasked with reviving Fordham’s long dormant men’s basketball program is in high demand as he nears the tail-end of a surprisingly successful first season — compared to recent years for the Rams. They enter Thursday’s Atlantic 10 Tournament opener against George Mason 15-15 and 8-10 in the conference, their best season in six years.
His job is hectic, but so far enjoyable. He never saw this as career suicide, as some have described coaching at Fordham in the past.
