Just a few months after announcing her retirement from being head women’s basketball coach at the University of Southern Mississippi, Joye Lee-McNelis has died at the age of 63.
Lee-McNelis succumbed to a long battle with lung cancer.
She had spent the past 21 years leading the Golden Eagles’ women’s basketball team and called it a career at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Lee-McNelis ended a 34-year career coaching the sport, amassing 550 wins as the head coach of Memphis and Southern Miss.
The school paid tribute to her after her passing was announced on Wednesday afternoon.
‘Joye Lee-McNelis, my friend of more than four decades, led a life of leadership that personified Southern Miss grit,’ wrote school president Dr. Joe Paul. ‘Her work in molding young women will ripple out in the world for generations. Joye Lee-McNelis is a Southern Miss legend, and we will forever miss her and honor her memory.’
Long-time Southern Miss women’s basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis has died at age 63
Lee-McNelis retired just months ago, having led Southern Miss since 2004
Athletic Director Dr. Jeremy McClain said, ‘Joye was an inspiration to us all. Her determination, her resolve and her love for life were reflected in the way she went about her day. She was strong in her faith and cared deeply about those close to her. Her impact on women’s basketball, her players and her coaches is immeasurable, and her legacy will live on forever at Southern Miss.’
Lee-McNelis enrolled at Southern Miss in 1980 as a student-athlete – becoming one of the most prolific basketball players in the school’s history.
After graduating, she took a job at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) as an assistant coach under Dennis McNelis, whom she later married.
Lee-McNelis eventually returned to Southern Miss to be an assistant coach under Kay James, a position she’d hold for five years before eventually leaving to become a head coach for the first time at Memphis at just the age of 28.
In her 13 years at the helm of the Tigers, Lee-McNelis took a struggling program to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1995-1998, winning just one game. The school has not made the Big Dance in women’s basketball since.
After repeatedly swatting aside offers from bigger schools like South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Florida State, Lee-McNelis returned to Southern Miss in 2004 and remained there until her retirement.
While she never reached the NCAA Tournament at her alma mater, she helped lead the Golden Eagles to a conference title in 2022-23, the school’s first regular season conference title since the 1993-94 season.
She is survived by her two brothers, her husband, her daughter, her son, and two grandchildren.
