When women’s basketball coach Tammi Reiss arrived in Gainesville on March 23, the New York native didn’t have much time to sit back and soak in the Florida sun. Instead, Reiss had to build an SEC-caliber roster from scratch in a matter of two weeks.
But Reiss quickly proved her aptitude for building, constructing the No. 15 transfer portal class in the nation, according to USA Today. And luckily she didn’t have to look too far for some inspiration on how to attack the portal.
“I really took the Todd Golden approach,” Reiss said. “Number one, you got to want to be at Florida. You got to want to be a Gator … and number two is you got to want to build.”
Reiss has a tall task ahead of her as success hasn’t been a word tied to the program since the Carol Ross era (1993-2002) when the Gators captured 10 NCAA Tournament berths in 11 seasons, including their last Sweet 16 appearance in 1998 and sole Elite 8 game in 1997.
Now Reiss takes the reins of a program that over the last decade recorded just one NCAA Tournament appearance and owns just one winning season in SEC play. The three-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year wants to make her mark in the SEC and do something that the 11 previous Florida coaches couldn’t, which started with acquiring players who were just as bothered by the empty rafters.
“We sold that, you know, and coming here and being a part of something building to raise a banner that’s never been done before and it’s never been done here,” Reiss said. “They’ve never won an SEC championship and they’ve never won a national. So do you want to start and build your mark and your legacy here?”
While building from square one is no coach’s ideal scenario, Reiss found her 13 pieces: 10 transfers, one returnee and two freshmen.
Reiss went fishing in the portal pool for a team ready to compete, but didn’t let the immediate needs of the program derail her from also developing a strong foundation for the future, acquiring younger talent like two-time All-Big Ten honoree junior guard Kiyomi McMiller, Atlantic 10 Sixth Woman of the Year sophomore guard Vanessa Harris and junior forward Vivian Iwuchukwu.
“You don’t want all grad seniors where you graduating everyone again you got to build a roster again,” Reiss said. “We made sure when we went in the portal, we could just go out and get kids who have multiple years that you’re going to build your core around, sign a great recruiting class, probably going to be top 10 in the country, and then we’ll go in the portal and get any two or three missing pieces we need.”
The team came unfamiliar to each other and Reiss’ team culture, rooted in accountability, but the former Rhode Island coach brought along a friendly face in Harris, who has a year under Reiss’ system.
Harris helped Rhode Island reach the program’s first NCAA appearance in 30 years, averaging 10.2 points off the bench as a freshman. The guard’s ability to sink shots and reinforce expectations in the locker room made her a coveted asset that Reiss couldn’t leave behind.
“She’s built for the SEC, big, strong guard and young,” Reiss said. “The biggest component was knowing her culture, owning the locker room when I’m away. Knowing what to tell them when they’re in the locker room or at the apartments, knowing how we run things and so no one else knows the right way yet, so it’s imperative that she come with me.”
Reiss’ 10 Ways of Champions philosophy also found its way to Gainesville.
“It’s just 10 [words], for example, responsibility, accountability, courage, service, respect, things like that,” Harris said. “She holds all of us to that standard every single day. It just makes playing for her much more fun.”
The former three-time All-American at the University of Virginia knows what it takes to succeed in the league, helping lead the Cavaliers to three consecutive Final Four appearances (1990, 1991, 1992).
For Reiss’ new squad success starts with leaning into its offensive prowess, rostering players like McMiller, whose 21.6 points per game at Penn State ranked 12th in the nation in 2026, and will be key in filling the void left by former Florida guard Liv McGill, who’s 22.5 points per game carried the Gators, and edged out McMiller, ranking 11th in the nation.
With 13 new faces, team communication, the backbone of any defense, is still a sore spot, so Reiss understands the importance of executing the team’s strengths and prioritizing communication.
When her players aren’t meeting the standard, she isn’t afraid to call them out immediately. When the offense didn’t shout out the play during 5-on-5 drills, the players didn’t need to ask Reiss where to go when she blew the whistle. They headed straight to the line to sprint up and down the length of the court.
“When they’re not doing what you need them to do, you can’t waste time,” Reiss said. “You got to fix it right away. When they make multiple mistakes over and over on the same thing you’re trying to teach, you got to hold them accountable, and you got to stop it. You got to fix it in real time or you’ll form bad habits.”
The 56-year-old expects her players to compete and have discipline in everything they do. Senior forward Jade Weathers, the lone returner from the Gators’ 2025-26 roster, noted the culture shift extended past the court.
“Really honing in on those things and not only our characters on the court, but off the court as well,” Weathersby said. “I know one of the biggest focuses this summer was making sure we got out into the community. We always were presentable, making sure we greeted people, making sure the community knew that Gator women’s basketball was friendly.”
The summer wasn’t just for fostering connections within the community, but bonds among the team as well. Because Weathersby already knew the lay of the land, she took it upon herself to show her teammates around town.
Harris appreciated the team’s trips to different ice cream shops like Kilwins as she and the other players adjusted to the Sunshine State’s sweltering heat.
“I’m from Maryland, so I get all four seasons,” Harris said. “This is like a complete shift for me.”
Throughout the eight weeks before the fall semester ramped up, the coaches emphasized relationship building through team activities, including leadership training, team parties like barbecues and a scavenger hunt.
During the scavenger hunt, the team was split into groups and tasked with taking photos at different spots around campus. While each activity helped the girls grow closer, Reiss noted the hunt revealed a great deal about each player’s character early on.
“I saw my natural leaders,” Reiss said. “I saw good followers. I saw great communicators. I saw hustlers who compete to win.”
The team doesn’t have captains; rather, they elected leaders: senior guard Jordan Jones, senior guard Moriah Murray and Harris, who coincidentally were the three players Reiss observed step up during the scavenger hunt.
Jones led Denver in scoring (19.9) and rebounding (6.7) as a junior, but redshirted her senior season at Arizona due to injury. Murray came with McMiller from Penn State, where her 3-point shooting percentage (39.8%) ranked No. 8 in the Big Ten.
Their stats made them obvious targets for Reiss, but she also bet on the fact that their experience would translate to leadership skills as well. And with Harris, the three each exemplify a different component that complements one another.
“Jojo [Jones] may be the best relationship person because she’s very even-keeled, easy to talk to, kind, compassionate,” Reiss said. “Mo [Murray] is the best communicator and best organizer, and Vanessa knows the culture the best, so she knows how everything should go. Although they may not all possess every [characteristic], together they’re very strong.”
While the players continue working on gelling on the court, the coaching staff’s chemistry looked natural since day one, which comes as no shock to Reiss, who has had long-lasting relationships with each of the four new faces on the staff.
Jen Fay, the team’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, came with Reiss from Rhode Island. Associate head coach Shay Robinson, who has coached in 11 of the last 12 NCAA tournaments, struck up a friendship with Reiss nearly two decades ago when their paths crossed while scouting at the Boo Williams Invitational in Hampton, Virginia.
Reiss has also maintained more than decade-long relationships with associate head coach Tahnee Balerio, who brings SEC experience after spending four seasons with Georgia as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, as well as associate head coach CJ Jones, who previously spent four seasons at Reiss’ alma mater.
Reiss’ connections even stretched to the only member retained from former coach Kelly Rae Finley’s tenure, assistant coach Cynthia Jones, who spent 14 years under Reiss’ best friend and college roommate Dawn Staley at South Carolina.
“We’ve already been best friends, all of us,” Reiss said. “There is no building; we’ve already all known [each other], and they’ve all known each other. When we got in the same room [on the] first day, it was already connected.”
The familiarity among the coaches allows them to work hand in hand with one another. When running defensive drills, the staff shouted, “Stick hand,” in unison from each corner court, and if any of them saw a mistake, there was no hesitation to blow the whistle.
“I want to roll with people that I can trust, and I know especially you’re going to put your program in their hands because I let them coach, so that was a no-brainer,” Reiss said. “I went after very specific people.”
As the start of the regular season rolls around with a home exhibition game against Flagler at 6 p.m. Wednesday (Coverage begins at 5:40 p.m. on WRUF 98.1-FM/850-AM/103.7-FM HD2 ESPN) and the home opener against Bucknell set for Nov. 2, Reiss won’t let her team slip from the standard, constantly reminding her players, “Do what we do,” during practice.
Fostering bonds is still a priority, with the players participating in weekly meetings to continue growing comfortable with each other. Whether it is playing fishbowl or Jeopardy, the time spent together is paying off.
“We’re starting to have those tough conversations with one another,” Harris said. “We’re starting to cheer each other on. We’re starting to read the room when a teammate [is] down on herself; we’re able to lift her up because now we know how she is and how she wants to get talked to.”
The team came in as strangers, but enters the season with the groundwork laid as it intends to make noise in a conference in which UF has posted a measly 5-11 record in the last four consecutive seasons.
“We’re built on belief,” Weathersby said.
“We’re a whole new team, and we’re trying to turn the whole program around, and we just have to believe in ourselves and believe in our coaching staff and trust their process,” Harris said.
