But as the players soon learned, on this day, the 6-foot-8 Love was not the man of the hour and soon he gave way to WSU head coach Scott Nagy, who started to talk about how “you want to be that person other people admire and look up to. For example …” Before he could finish his thought, his voice began to quaver with emotion until the words disappeared.
The players weren’t sure what was happening and that’s when Nagy turned toward the tall, bald — now noticeably muscled — Raider standing among his teammates.
“Think about Andy and what he has sacrificed,” Nagy finally managed to say as he looked at Andy Neff, the 6-foot-7 Oakwood High School product, who was beginning his fifth year as a Raiders’ walk-on.
In his four previous seasons, Neff played in 37 games — 120 minutes total — out of a possible 127 games and, counting overtimes, 5,100 minutes.
While he’s scored 36 points and grabbed 26 rebounds, some of his biggest contributions have been in cheering on his teammates from the bench and, especially, making them better as a stalwart of the scout team in practice.
He’d done all his while paying his own way to Wright State and sometimes not getting all the perks the scholarship players received. But in the process, he has gotten something more.
“If I said what the program is about, who it’s about, you’d go down the line and within one or two, everyone would mention Andy,” Nagy said.
Then, as his voice again began to choke out, Nagy pointed at Neff and said: “Because of that, I’m offering you a scholarship, right now…”
The rest of his thought — in a moment that’s been gloriously preserved in a video posted on Wright State social media platforms — was drowned out by the cheering players who mobbed the stunned Neff as if he’d just hit the buzzer-beating basket that sent them to the NCAA Tournament.
Guard Amari Davis hugged him. So did veteran Tim Finke and fellow big man C.J. Wilbourn.
In the midst of the celebration, a smiling Nagy interjected: “Hold up! You haven’t accepted.”
The beaming Neff broke from the team embrace to hug Nagy and then wipe his own brimming eyes as the other coaches approached.
“This is one of the fun days of being a coach,” Nagy said. “And Andy flat out deserves it. Don’t look at it as some kind of gift. Gifts are not earned. He earned this.
“We’re proud of you.”
Immediately afterward Neff got congratulatory messages from former teammates like Grant Basile, who transferred to Virginia Tech this season and James Manns, now at Ashland University.
“Him getting a scholarship, that meant the world to him, but it also meant the world to us, too,” Wilbourn said before practice the other day. “We know how hard-working he is, how unselfish he is.”
Nagy summed it up: “You can tell we love him and his teammates love him. He embodies everything we want to be about.”
‘A centerpiece of this team’
Neff never had it easy.
“They had to induce my labor because his twin brother, Alex, was cutting off his feet,” Nancy Neff, the boys’ mom, said.
Alex was born 4 minutes earlier and weighed 7 pounds. Andy weighed 5.
“But look now, Andy’s taller than his brother,” Nancy said with a laugh.
Early in his stellar baseball career at Oakwood, the 6-foot-4 Alex committed to Kent State.
Andy missed much of his sophomore basketball season with a broken foot. Although he was a starter his last two seasons, his only scholarship offer came from Sinclair Community College.
Credit: Erin Pence
Credit: Erin Pence
The two brothers had dreamed of playing at the same school and that prompted Alex to decommit and sign with Wright State. Convinced by his brother to try to become a walk-on, Andy sent the WSU coaches some highlight videos, but heard nothing for almost two months.
Then, on graduation night, he got a message from WSU assistant Clint Sargent, inviting him to a walk-on tryout.
Later, when Neff was brought back for another WSU consult, he brought his mom with him.
“They said ‘Are you sure you want to be in this role?’” Nancy recalled. “And Andy was like, ‘Yes, I want to be part of the team. I know the role and I’ll adhere to it.’
“We had talked about it beforehand as a family — we had prayed about it — and now I think he’s done his role extremely well.” Since coming to Wright State, Neff has worked tirelessly to better himself.
“I was soft as a player when I came in here as a freshman,” he said. “So it was more about gaining toughness.”
He said going against Love, the 6-9 Basile and Adam Giles, a senior walk-on and weight room denizen, eventually made him tougher.
“That first year I wouldn’t even practice a lot of times, I just stood on the side,” he said. “After back to back all league years at Oakwood, to just claw and scratch to make the scout team at Wright State, that was a big change.”
And then he suffered a preseason groin injury and missed the first month of that 2018-19 freshman season.
But he soldiered through it, became a fixture in the weight room and over the years restructured his diet.
“I came in here at 170 pounds and since then I’ve gained 50,” he said.
“He’s never gotten a lot of playing time, but I think he’s become one of the best teammates on the team,” Nancy said.
He hasn’t complained or sewed discord, but instead done whatever he can to build up his fellow players.
“He’s someone who holds us together,” Finke said. “He’s definitely a centerpiece of this team.”
And Neff said he’s benefitted from that, as well: “I don’t get the cheers, but there are other good things away from the court.”
That’s the case with T.J. Nagy, the coach’s son, who was a WSU walk-on himself for three years.
“He just got married and I was his best man,” Neff said. “I have teammates here I’ll be friends with for life.”
Track team?
In true storybook fashion, Neff made a splash in his freshman debut at Wright State.
In a mid-December game in 2018 against the University of Northwestern Ohio — which the Raiders would win by 39 points — he was sent into the game with four minutes left to play.
Two minutes later, Manns spotted him deep on the wing and rifled a perfect pass. Neff caught it, took aim and let loose with what would be the only three-point attempt of his career.
It was perfect!
The WSU sideline erupted as did Neff’s family and friends in Section 204 of the Nutter Center.
When the game ended, his teammates swarmed him.
Over the years he’s had other noteworthy moments on the court: Six points against Mississippi Valley State; five against Cleveland State; and he ended last season making Wright State’s final two points – two free throws – in the loss to Arizona in the NCAA Tournament.
But when asked about his best memories — aside from the day he got the scholarship — he offered only team accomplishments: from winning the Horizon League to beating Bryant in a First Four game at UD Arena.
One more team feat is why — even after graduating last year with a marketing degree — he came back for grad school and a fifth walk-on season.
“I’d like to go back to the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “I think James Manns is the only person to ever have two rings at Wright State.”
Nagy said Neff has a real chance to play more this year.
And while he’s now a scholarship player, his walk-on efforts aren’t over at Wright State.
“Did he tell you?” Nancy asked. “He’s going out for the new track team at Wright State.
“They’re bringing back the men’s program, but they’ve just got a few guys. And they don’t have any scholarships.
“Andy wasn’t on the team in high school, but he always wanted to high jump.
“Wright State had their first practice the other day and he did 6-foot-6. His upper body cleared but, his leg caught right at the end. He’s going to broad jump, too, and maybe try the 800.
“I think the track coach is super excited about what he could do for the team.”
He is, after all, the perfect teammate.
About the Author