Neal Holliman enters his 18th season as head baseball coach at East Central Community College and has compiled an overall 482-343 record.

The Warriors are coming into 2024 at #10 in the NJCAA Preseason Rankings. As the reigning Region 23 Champs, they secured their first NJCAA World Series bid, overcoming tough interconference competition. The Diamond Warriors have extended their playoff appearance streak to 12 straight seasons.

The Warriors also finished the 2022 season 30-17 and reached the NJCAA Region 23 playoffs but fell in the best-of-three play-in series. 

In 2021, Holliman led the Warriors to a 30-17 overall record and to an NJCAA Region 23 runner-up finish after making a strong postseason push.

His 2019 team made the program's 10th straight appearance in the postseason, losing a best-of-three National Junior College Athletic Association Region 23 playoff series to eventual region champion Pearl River. His 2018 squad also advanced to the NJCAA Region 23 playoffs and finished with a 31-18 record.

Holliman's 2017 squad finished with a 33-17 record and advanced to the state playoffs. The Diamond Warriors completed the 2016 season ranked No. 10 in the nation with a 38-17 overall mark, captured the 2016 Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges State Championship, and were runners-up in the NJCAA Region 23 Division II Baseball Tournament.

It marked the third state championship for Holliman as head coach of the Warriors and the fourth overall for ECCC. Holliman’s teams also won MACJC titles in 2007 and 2013. He was also a first-year assistant to then-head coach Jamie Clark when the Diamond Warriors won the college’s first state championship in 1998.

Holliman’s 2015 Diamond Warriors completed the season with a 26-18 overall record and advanced to the playoffs in the MACJC conference. 

In 2014, East Central advanced to the MACJC and Region 23 tournaments for the fifth year in a row and completed the season with a 24-29 record.   

After capturing the 2013 MACJC State Championship, the Diamond Warriors won one of two matchups in the Region 23 Tournament to finish 32-21. The successful campaign was also highlighted by a top 20 ranking in the NJCAA poll.

Holliman led his first squad in 2007 to the MACJC State Baseball Championship with a 31-23 record. In recognition of his team’s success, Holliman was chosen MACJC Baseball Coach of the Year.

Under Holliman, East Central has produced nine professional players, 31 NCAA Division I signees, 49 NCAA Division II signees, three NCAA Division III signees, and nine NAIA signees.

Additionally, Holliman’s teams have consistently been academically ranked among the top in the nation.

Prior to joining the ECCC staff, Coach Holliman was an assistant baseball coach at the University of West Alabama and helped lead the Tigers to the 2005 Gulf South Conference Championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional before finishing with a school-record 45 wins. The 2006 squad finished runners-up for the Gulf South Conference Championship and also advanced to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional.

A graduate of Pickens Academy in Carrollton, Ala., Holliman was an Academic All-Conference third baseman and pitcher at UWA (then known as Livingston University), where he received a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1995. He earned a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Southern Mississippi while playing professional baseball for the Meridian Brakemen of the Independent Big South League.

Holliman is married to the former Tracy Blackburn of Decatur. They have two sons - Levi and Hayes.