Jackie Neary had been a thorn in the side of Neumann’s lacrosse program for decades. Now, she’s its coach.

If you can’t beat them, hire them.

That’s the mantra Neumann University is evidently going with after the appointment of its new women’s lacrosse coach, Jackie Neary.

Neary, who coached the last 28 seasons at Cabrini University, amassed a 26-1 record against Neumann, and likely would have ended her career there but was forced to find another job after Cabrini closed and sold its campus to Villanova earlier this year. She waited until the conclusion of the Cavaliers’ final season to evaluate her options, and while her 351 wins and 22 conference championships at Cabrini provided her with several to choose from, her ultimate destination was a bit of a surprise.

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Neumann hasn’t managed a winning record in the Atlantic East Conference since 2018. The program was on a 19-game losing streak against Cabrini, and in the last 10 meetings, Cabrini outscored Neumann, 206-55.

Nonetheless, Neary desired a place resembling Cabrini. She says she found that in Neumann.

“The ultimate thing is, I wanted to stay in higher ed,” Neary said. “I wanted to be in college, and Neumann is such a similar school to Cabrini in the fact of being able to coach college girls.”

Another layer to Neumann’s appeal was the school’s willingness to let Neary bring former Cabrini assistant coach Macaul Mellor with her, while also making space for a few Cavaliers players to follow the beloved coach.

Neary cited her love for Delaware County as a third factor in the decision. She is a Delaware County Hall of Fame inductee and played lacrosse at Ridley High School in Folsom, where she was an All-American in 1982. Neary furthered her career at Temple, making four consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances and winning a national title in 1984.

She never planned to leave the area. Before joining Cabrini in 1997, Neary coached at both of her alma maters, spending 13 years as an assistant coach between the women’s lacrosse programs at Ridley and Temple. Her connection to the area has served her well in recruiting, and she doesn’t expect that to change at her new job.

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“If you look at the 28 years that I had at Cabrini, a lot of my success comes from kids from local high schools — from Springfield, from Ridley, from [Bonner-Prendie],” Neary said. “I think I’ve been blessed over the years, because of the talent in the Philadelphia area, to have great teams. I’m hoping to bring that same type of experience and create something very special at Neumann with my normal recruiting schools that I love.”

While Neary is in a familiar location, taking the reins of a former rival is uncharted territory. She says her decision raised a few eyebrows among Cabrini alumni, but she points out that the school left her no choice.

“I would have finished the next 10 years at Cabrini — Cabrini closed on me,” Neary said. “It made it sort of easy being able to say, ‘Hey, I can jump, I can go to Neumann.’”

It won’t be easy for Neary to turn things around at Neumann, but she has climbed taller mountains. The women’s lacrosse program at Cabrini didn’t exist before her arrival — the school hired her to start it from scratch.

Despite those conditions, Neary led the Cavaliers to an 11-4 record in their debut season and added eight consecutive conference titles from 1998 to 2005.

Sounds like the sky is the limit for Neumann.

“I think we can do some good stuff this upcoming year,” Neary said. “This program does have a little bit of history, so I think that helps me stepping into this new position.”

Neary has made it her mission to call every Neumann player in the coming weeks. From her playing days, she knows what it feels like to be an athlete getting a new coach, and wants to reduce that anxiety by introducing herself to her new team. She says she has been “pleasantly surprised” with the conversations.

“When you’re getting people to work together to create something special, [it’s] something they can’t do alone,” Neary said. “When you put a diverse group of people together, great things could happen.”

Neary has her eyes on another AEC championship in the spring, but she refuses to look any farther into the future. She focuses on one year at a time, giving herself just one long-term goal: leave Neumann better than she found it.

Even with her many years of coaching, Neary has plans to accomplish that goal. She said a conversation with Cindy Timchal, head coach of Navy women’s lacrosse, going into her 41st season with the Midshipmen, made it clear that in this game, “Age is just a number.”

Neary paused and added: “As long as I’m relevant, and I can coach, and we can win and good things can happen, I want to stay in it.”