GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida employed Rhode Island‘s Tammi Reiss as this system’s subsequent women’s basketball coach Monday, tasking her with rebuilding the least-accomplished program on campus.
Reiss, a three-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, spent seven seasons with the Rams and led them to the NCAA match for the primary time in 30 years earlier this month. Rhode Island misplaced to Alabama within the first spherical.
Nonetheless, the Rams received a school-record 28 video games to go together with a share of the A-10 regular-season championship and the convention match.
Reiss, 55, performed alongside Dawn Staley at Virginia and appeared in three consecutive Final Fours (1990-92), together with the 1991 nationwide title recreation. She was a part of eight NCAA match appearances as an assistant coach, together with 4 at Syracuse, earlier than arriving at Rhode Island.
She replaces Kelly Rae Finley, who was fired two weeks in the past whereas the Gators had been poised to overlook the NCAA match for the fourth consecutive yr.
The 40-year-old Finley went 93-75 in 5 seasons in Gainesville, together with 30-50 in SEC play. She put collectively one of many program’s finest collections of expertise in recent times, with Liv McGill, Me’Arah O’Neal and Laila Reynolds giving the workforce three McDonald’s All Americans in its beginning lineup.
But the trio was unable to ship sufficient wins in one of many nation’s deepest leagues.
Reiss will attempt to revive women’s basketball at Florida, which is the one program on campus that has by no means received a convention title. The Gators have appeared reluctant to funnel as a lot cash as SEC heavyweights LSU and South Carolina right into a program that has offered little, if any, return on funding for many years.
Reiss, although, has a observe report of constructing.
The Rams tripled their common attendance throughout her tenure and raised this system’s first three convention banners. Her total report is 138-73, together with 96 wins over the previous 4 seasons. She twice set this system report for victories.
