Tammi Reiss did not come to Florida for a comfortable first season.
The former Rhode Island coach inherited an almost entirely new roster and stepped into what she considers the country's best league. The good news is that the Gators have already bought into the culture and competitive standard she wants established before SEC play begins.
Reiss also discussed leaning on former Virginia teammate and roommate Dawn Staley, the experiences that prepared her to become a head coach and how her unusual path through acting, business and professional basketball influences the way she runs a program.
Here’s everything Reiss had to say.
What are your opening thoughts entering your first season at Florida?
Thank you, everyone, and good morning. It’s great to be here.
I want to start with opening remarks about how excited I am to be at the University of Florida and how excited I am to be in what I consider the best league in America, SEC women’s basketball. There’s none better.
The reason I wanted the job at the University of Florida is to get to compete against the highest level. Every time you turn around, there’s a GOAT on the sideline. There’s Dawn Staley, who was my backcourt mate at Virginia and my roommate. There’s Vic Schaefer, there’s Kim Mulkey, there’s Yolett McPhee-McCuin. The list goes on and on.
If you’re any kind of competitor, which I am, you want to be in this league. I couldn’t be more excited to be here.
My first media day and my intro were a little different because I want you to know I’m not just a basketball coach. I’ve done a lot of different things throughout my career, and I think balance is important in anything you do.
I love basketball, but there are other passions as well. Again, I’m a jokester. I like to have a good time. It’s not that serious. We coach basketball.
What have you seen from Florida’s completely new roster that makes you excited for the season?
I think the first thing I’m most proud of when you’re developing a new team and you have all new faces is your standard and the culture. It’s the buy-in from your players. How quickly can I get complete buy-in? They’re all in.
Then, how quickly can they come together as a team so that by the time we hit the SEC, our culture is set, our standard is set and our chemistry is set?
The thing I’m most proud of is every one of those players right now is all in. They show up every day, they give me everything they’ve got and they do it the right way.
We can build on that. That’s how championships are won. Lose yourself in the process of winning. That’s what I’m most proud of. Right now, they’re all in. They know the standard, and they give me everything they’ve got.
Did you speak with Dawn Staley before accepting the Florida job, and what advice did she offer?
I did. I called Dawn Staley first thing when the opportunity presented itself and really talked to Dawn.
She showed you the blueprint on how to rebuild a program, brick by brick, from the fan base to recruiting, every aspect, marketing, whatever it was. I really picked her brain about this job, the SEC and the University of Florida.
That’s what besties are for. That’s what best friends are for. Anytime I’ve ever called, Dawn picks up: “Whatever you need, sister.”
She really, really helped me, No. 1, in acquiring the job and then, No. 2, with the blueprint. Really, really great knowledge and great advice.
Yes, I lean on her heavily in a lot of different areas of my life. This was one big decision. It’s a life decision, and she really was there for me.
How did your many years as an assistant prepare you to become a head coach?
I never truly wanted to be a head coach. There are some people who are born and want to climb the ladder as quickly as possible and attain that status.
I loved being an assistant coach. I loved it for the relationships, recruiting and player development, being on the court.
Syracuse, Virginia, Cal State Fullerton, San Diego State — at all those stops and with all the different head coaches, I was able to evaluate. I was able to take the things I loved, discard the things I didn’t love and start to build who I was if I ever wanted to be a head coach.
Then suddenly came the time when I thought, “I’m ready.” No. 1, you never want to be unprepared when an opportunity presents itself. Every year, I would go, “I’m not ready in late-game situations. I’m not ready in game management. I’m not.”
Finally, I gained the experience and the knowledge. It’s like having a baby. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it. You never truly will be ready.
Fortunately, I was at a place in Rhode Island where you could make a couple of mistakes. You could get your feet wet without being on a national stage right away.
Rhode Island, really, that last stop, gave me my experience and gave me my confidence. All the little weaknesses I had, I think I fine-tuned. Again, when a job presented itself, I was ready for Florida when the opportunity came.
Has your coaching philosophy changed from when you were a player?
It’s funny. Everyone says my playing career was about 40 years ago, and it was old school. Your coach told you to do something, and you did it. If your coach said, “Go out and run 10 miles,” I’d say, “Yes, coach,” and I’d go run 10 miles. It’s the old-school mentality.
The game has morphed a little bit, but the standard is still the standard.
As a player, I have four expectations every day. No. 1 is culture. You do things like a champion, the right way. We have something called “The Way of a Champion.”
No. 2 is communication. You must talk as a player. Great teams talk.
No. 3, you show up and give 110% every day. Hard work.
The last one is compete. Hard work is different from compete. When it’s time for you and me to go head-to-head, I’m going to kill you to beat you. That’s competing. You do not lose.
The standard over the course of each decade has never really changed. Those are intangible qualities every kid really can control. My standard as a player has never changed.
Now, my expectation as a player of how my coach communicates with me and relates to me may change because we’re four decades later. Times have changed, technology has changed and philosophies have changed.
How you coach players may have changed, but the standard of my expectation of who a player is will never change.
How have your other interests and experiences influenced you as a coach?
Coming out of college, the reason I didn’t go play professionally overseas right away was I was devastated with going 0-for-3 in the Final Four. It broke my heart a little bit.
I thought, “I have some other passions I really love.” Exercise and fitness — I was a fitness model and competed in competition shows — and then acting. I took it up at Virginia.
I said, “Let me go do my bucket list. Let me step away from the athlete I was and go experience and try something new,” much to the dismay of my parents and especially my father.
I went to drama school, and suddenly I was landing my first national commercials — Arthur Andersen and Hardee’s. I was becoming a working actress and loving it.
Then the WNBA called, coaching called, and I started to jump. I went back to play in the WNBA. I then purchased two businesses. I owned a nightclub for 10 years in Salt Lake City called the Manhattan Club.
If you think there’s any job harder than coaching, try being a club owner — a minority club owner in Salt Lake City. It’s really, really difficult.
I owned a day spa and salon and ran Gold’s Gym. Here comes my business hat. I went back to college basketball, gave up my businesses, gave up acting, and I coached college basketball for 10 years.
Now we roll into the NIL decade, and my business hat comes back on. I absolutely love this space because I’ve dealt with budgets. I worked for the Utah Jazz and got to see some of the best with roster and salary-cap management and contract negotiations.
I’ve owned a nightclub and done all my own books, my accounts receivable and my marketing. When you say “run a program,” a head coach is so much more than X’s and O’s and recruiting. You’ve got NIL, roster construction and contract negotiations.
That’s where I think all my hobbies and all the other things that have touched me in a different way have really lent themselves to making me a better coach on and off the court.
We talk about balance all the time. Some of the things you experience — and I tell our players this all the time — improve you as a person, whether it’s your leadership or your knowledge. That’s what my other hobbies have done for me a great deal.
Does your acting background ever emerge during practice?
I think it does. It comes out everywhere. It could be in recruiting. You’ve got to be able to be a chameleon in whatever room you enter.
They’ll see funny little sides of me where they’ll play around with me. I think the other day, someone put my “Mann” jersey on. I walked into practice while they were warming up, and I’m a stickler. “Why does she have the wrong jersey on?”
I can’t see, so I’m like, “Why does she have the wrong jersey? Go get Jade.”
As I walked up, I’m like, “She has my Vicky Sanchez jersey on from ‘Juwanna Mann.’” They got me. They play with me.
It is fun. It’s funny, but they’ll experience it. They’ll see it all the time.
What will it be like coaching against Dawn Staley at South Carolina?
As a friend and coach, everyone has asked me, “What game are you most excited about in the SEC?”
Come on now. To get to go down into that environment in South Carolina, which I think is the best environment in college basketball, and get to actually be on the court again with her — it’s been since 1992 head-to-head.
I’m a head coach now. She’s a head coach. It was different when I was at Syracuse and I was an assistant and she was a head coach. Oh, and by the way, we did beat them then to go to our Final Four at Syracuse.
This will be a special day and a special moment because of our relationship, all that she’s done for me and the impact she’s had in my life.
It’ll be a little nostalgic. It’s going to be something I’m really, really looking forward to.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida’s Tammi Reiss brings an all-in standard to Florida's rebuild