Neely Agnew made the pool deck her second home growing up. Watching her father J. Agnew coach at Yorktown High School and Purdue University was something she did often.
Now, J. is the head coach of Ball State Swimming and Diving, and Neely’s swimming career has come full circle as she is in her first season with the Cardinals.
Even when she wasn’t swimming, the now-redshirt freshman backstroke swimmer knew there was something drawing her to the sport.
“Being on the pool deck all the time, there’s something so special about it,” Neely said. “You can feel it in the air. Growing up, I just knew it was such a special part of my life. Sitting with my mom and sister at swim meets, encouraging ‘Coach Dad’ and his teams, I just knew it was special.”
Despite long days at the pool in her youth, Neely said she didn’t get into swimming until her freshman year while attending William Henry Harrison High School in Lafayette, Indiana. She grew up playing soccer and volleyball and credits her family and friends for encouraging her to take a leap of faith into the pool.
“My freshman year, my sister, my dad and some friends convinced me to go for the swim team,” Neely said. “I am so thankful they did. Having the support of my dad pushing me along the way the whole time, there’s nothing like it.”
Neely’s mother, Kelly Agnew, said Neely was motivated to swim because of her sister, Haley Agnew, now a senior at Purdue University. When Neely was a high school freshman, Kelly said, Haley begged her to swim and get involved in the sport. It was Haley’s senior year of high school, and she was ecstatic about the possibility of having a chance to compete with her sister.
“She wanted to have one year on the high school team together,” Kelly said. “She said, ‘I don’t care if you ever swim again, but let’s just have this year together,’ and she was hooked.”
After a year at William Henry Harrison, Neely transferred to Yorktown and spent her final three years of high school there, specializing in the freestyle and breaststroke. As several offers from colleges arrived, Agnew kept one school in the back of her mind: Ball State.
Kelly said Ball State has been a special place for her and her husband since they met in their Philosophy 101 class. After receiving her master’s degree from Ball State in 2000, the Agnews moved 10 miles west to Yorktown. Following a seven-year career at Yorktown, J. was hired to become the assistant coach for Purdue, where he and his family spent 11 years before returning to Muncie in 2018 to become Ball State’s head coach.
“Ball State is special,” J. said. “It’s where I got my start. I met my wife here. I went to school here. I love Ball State — this is a place where my family was raised and feels comfortable. … I mean, this is my alma mater. This is my home. It was an opportunity I was excited about.”
The familiarity of Muncie and a calling from God is what Neely said drove her to stay local and commit to Ball State.
“I just knew it deep down,” Neely said. “It’s where my parents met — it’s just had a special place in our hearts. I’ve always just wanted to be a Cardinal. I just felt that’s where God was leading me to go. When he says to go, I follow, and Ball State it was.”
Faith has always been valued in the Agnew family, and Kelly said it was a driving force in the decisions they have made as a family.
“We’ve always gone wherever God has wanted us to go,” Kelly said. “We’ve always jumped feet first into wherever we were supposed to go — whether it was going to Purdue or coming home to Muncie.”
Unlike her husband and daughters, Kelly never swam competitively but takes pride in being a coach’s wife and a “team mom.”
“I love being a wife — I love being a mom,” Kelly said. “Being a coach’s wife is so special — I feel like I get an extra 70 kids every year. There’s just something about being with a group of young adults and growing with them as well.”
J. hasn’t yet had the chance to see Neely compete at the collegiate level, as Neely decided to redshirt her freshman year, meaning she can practice with the Cardinals but not compete. She’ll still have four years of eligibility starting in the 2022-23 season.
“[Redshirting] was a hard decision, but it was the right one,” Neely said. “Knowing that I started later, having a year to catch up a little bit more — this is just a year to catch up and get fully up to speed with everyone.”
Neely said she can’t wait to start competing for the school that started it all for her family.
“I’m just so thankful I’m at Ball State,” Neely said. “I just really feel like it’s where I’m supposed to be. I can’t wait for these next few years.”
Contact Nate Grubb with comments at nathaniel.grubb@bsu.edu or on Twitter @GrubbNate43.
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