‘Discipline is Everything’: Tammi Reiss Outlines Blueprint for Florida Women’s Basketball
New Florida women’s basketball coach Tammy Reiss plans to build a program built on habits more than hype.
Appearing on “Sportscene with Steve Russell” on WRUF Wednesday, Reiss detailed the blueprint for rebuilding the Gators, stressing discipline, roster stability and a renewed institutional commitment to competing for championships.
“Discipline is everything,” she said. “The two things I focus on in practice that are non‑negotiables – one of them is taking care of the ball. We chart it in every drill we do. There’s a consequence for turnovers, and … a bad shot is a turnover.”
The other priority, she said, is finishing possessions on the glass.
“We end every defensive possession with a box out,” Reiss said, explaining that winning the turnover and rebound battles “usually” leads to a higher chance of winning games. Later, she added, “We want to guard one possession – one – and we’re out of there. We got to run.”
Reiss inherited a roster with just one returning player, forcing her staff to live in the transfer portal during her first offseason in Gainesville. She has signed 11 new players since stepping into the head coach role: Syracuse forward Aurora Almon, South Georgia Tech. guard Ja’Niya Broome, Drexel guard Moriah Murray, Denver guard Jordan Jones, St. John’s guard Skye Owen, freshman guard Bailey Harris, Texas A&M guard Taliyah Parker, Southern California forward Vivian Iwuchukwu, Rhode Island guard Vanessa Harris, Butler forward Mallory Miller, Rutgers guard Kiyomi McMiller and international center Maja Bigovic.
She described the situation as “very, very challenging,” with only a short window to evaluate players and build trust.
“You’ve got a few weeks to build a relationship, do all your intel,” she said. “I’ve got to find out everything about this person. I’m not just recruiting an athlete and I know nothing about them … you don’t want to hire crazy. You don’t want to hire a convicted felon.”
Character and culture, she said, are non‑negotiables in roster construction. Even so, Reiss does not see annual overhauls as sustainable nor live in the portal long term. She said this offseason’s overhaul was about necessity, not preference.
“Now, that’s not how I want to construct a roster in the future,” she said. “I want retention of our core. I want to add a few pieces in the portal, and I want to go out and get some great high school talent. I do not want to go major portaling every year, but this first year it was a must, and we got the job done.”
Her jump from Rhode Island — where she turned a three-win team into a conference contender — came after feeling she had reached the ceiling at the mid-major level. Reiss said she had “done everything there was to do at Rhode Island” and watched the women’s college basketball landscape tilt toward the power conferences.
Florida, meanwhile, needed a reset of its own after an 18–15 season (5–11 SEC), an early SEC tournament exit and the loss of standout guard Liv McGill to Oklahoma State in the portal.
“Years down the road, when you look at where mid-majors are going, we’re becoming the feeder system and the G League for Power Fours,” Reiss said. “And so it was time. As a competitor, I gotta challenge myself.”
That challenge, she said, had to be matched by institutional backing. Florida’s pitch offered her a chance to move up with real support behind the program.
“The reason I took this job was it aligned with what I was looking for in my next step,” Reiss said. “The reason why I chose UF… was the commitment from administration. When they met with me, they didn’t blink at what I asked for and what we needed to really be competitive and vie for championships – SEC and national championships.”
She extracted that commitment into two nonnegotiables: a high-end staff and adequate NIL support. Florida, she said, met her on both.
“My two biggest resources I asked for was, number one, I need a top-four staff in this conference to win… I gotta go steal the best of the best,” she said. “They committed to that. I go out and I steal three associate head coaches from Louisville (Shay Robinson), from Georgia (Tahnee Balerio) and from UVA (CJ Jones) – three of the tops in the business.”
“The second most important resource I asked for was NIL,” Reiss added. “If the resources didn’t come and there was no commitment from administration, you will not win.”
On the floor, Reiss wants that investment to show up in the way Florida plays. She envisions an attacking motion offense built on decision-making and skill, and a defense that ends possessions with the ball.
“The last skill that is not taught very well at all – it’s an underrated skill, it’s one of the worst skills in women’s basketball – it’s called passing,” she said. “We focus on the basic skills of passing, dribbling and shooting so you do not turn the ball over.”
Rebounding is treated with the same level of detail. Reiss teaches what she calls the “hit and hold” method of boxing out, a technique she believes puts players in a more explosive stance to secure the ball and get out in transition.
“Everyone thinks defense and rebounding are all heart, grit. No – there’s a skill to it,” she said. “We want to guard one possession – one – and we’re out of there. We get to run.”
Her recruiting plan starts in Florida, where she has said she wants to “own this state” by keeping top in-state prospects home and making them the face of the program. Around that core, she intends to add select international pieces, leaning on European development models that emphasize skill.
That strategy has already yielded a major frontcourt piece in 6-foot-5 center Maja Bigovic (pronounced Maya) from Montenegro, who plays for her national team and has professional experience.
“She plays for a national team in Montenegro. … very skilled, and has played pro, has great experience,” Reiss said. “We were very, very fortunate, beat out some Power Four schools, and [were] able to sign her.”
Off the floor, academics are a core part of Florida’s pitch. A University of Virginia graduate and former high school valedictorian, Reiss said she chose UF in part because its academic standard matched her own expectations.
“One of our pillars is we recruit real student‑athletes, people that are looking to graduate and value their degree,” she said, calling Florida’s academic center “top five in the country” and insisting players would “have to try to fail” given the support available.
Between her demands for resources, her focus on ball security and rebounding, and her insistence on recruiting the right personalities, Reiss cast herself more as a builder than a savior.
“Coaches don’t win games,” she said. “We prepare players to win games … You’ve gotta have players that translate to wins. It can’t be ‘me, me, me, I want, I want,’ it’s gotta be ‘we, we, we.’”
Category: Feature Sports News, Gators Women's Basketball
