Overview
- Florida selected Rhode Island’s Tammi Reiss to replace Kelly Rae Finley, who was fired after five seasons without an NCAA Tournament berth.
- Reiss went 138-73 at Rhode Island, won three Atlantic 10 coach of the year awards, set a 28-win school record, captured the league tournament, and earned the program’s first NCAA bid in 30 years before an opening-round loss to Alabama.
- USA TODAY reported Reiss’s buyout at $100,000 per remaining contract year through 2035, totaling $900,000, and it is not yet clear if Florida will pay the full amount or negotiate with Rhode Island.
- Florida remains the only team on campus without a conference title and, per a Gainesville Sun report, spent about $5 million on women’s basketball last year and ranked last in SEC home attendance at roughly 1,895 per game.
- People familiar with the search told USA TODAY that Florida also pursued George Mason’s Vanessa Blair-Lewis and Columbia’s Megan Griffith, signaling a focus on proven mid-major builders.