Updated March 23, 2026, 11:07 p.m. ET
Tammi Reiss will leave the University of Rhode Island to become the next women’s basketball coach at Florida.
A source confirmed multiple reports Monday afternoon just a couple of days after the Rams ended their season with a first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 years. Reiss will replace Kelly Rae Finley, who was fired in early March by the Gators after missing March Madness for the fourth straight season.
Reiss finished 138-73 in seven years with URI, setting the program record for wins in a campaign on two different occasions. She captured a pair of regular season titles and a tournament crown in the Atlantic 10, and she was named the league’s Coach of the Year three times. Reiss is currently one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year honor and the lone mid-major leader remaining on the list.
“Tammi showed what is possible for the women’s basketball program at URI,” URI athletic director Pat Lyons said in a statement. “Her body of work speaks for herself, and to say she is leaving the program in a significantly better place would be an understatement.”
Reiss suffered a Saturday defeat in her last game with the Rams, a 68-55 loss to Alabama in Regional 3 action in Louisville. URI closed 28-5 overall after a setback at the KFC Yum! Center and fell to 0-8 all-time against SEC foes. It was a first appearance for the Rams on that stage since earning an at-large selection to the field in 1996.
“I’ve never been prouder of a group of young women than I am of this team,” Reiss said Saturday. “Although we didn’t get the result we wanted today it doesn’t take anything away from what they’ve accomplished all season long together.”
Tammi Reiss transformed URI women’s program
Reiss was hired off the Syracuse staff ahead of the 2019-20 season and went 13-16 in her debut. That was the only time she finished below the .500 mark at URI. The Rams went 26-7 in her fourth season and reached the Round of 16 in the WNIT, recording their first pair of postseason wins in school history.
URI advanced to a conference tournament title game in 2023-24 and won on its second trip earlier this month, a 53-51 victory over George Mason. The Rams and Patriots shared the regular season crown with identical 16-2 marks, and URI earned the No. 1 seed thanks to a head-to-head win. The Rams downed Loyola Chicago and Davidson on their way back to the championship round at Henrico Sports & Events Center in Virginia.
“Morality, integrity, character – they’re incredible student-athletes and young women,” Reiss said. “When you get 12, 13, 14 of them together, great things happen.”
Reiss triggered three one-year extensions with URI by winning at least 20 games in a single season. That was a clause in the 10-year deal she signed at the close of 2021-22 – that contract eventually stretched through the 2034-25 season. The Rams are due to receive a buyout of $900,000 for losing Reiss – $100,000 for each of the nine remaining years.
URI also saw a potential internal successor depart when associate head coach Adeniyi Amadou agreed to become the next head coach at New Mexico State. His hire was announced early this month, ending a 10-year professional partnership with Reiss. Amadou left the Orange to become the top Rams assistant under Reiss and helped establish their international recruiting pipeline as a Paris native.
“With him, he’s one of a kind,” Reiss said. “I can’t imagine looking to my left and not seeing him.”
URI counteroffered Florida’s bid
Reiss was presented with an unspecified offer to stay at URI for the long term, per one athletic department source. Florida countered with superior resources and a chance to operate in what was far and away the nation’s top conference in 2025-26 according to the NET rankings. The SEC put 10 teams into the NCAA Tournament field, including five of the top 16 overall seeds.
“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to coach at the highest level, and it doesn’t get any better than the SEC in terms of women’s basketball,” Reiss said in a Florida statement. “Between Florida’s academic reputation, which is very important to me, and the resources available to the program, I believe we have all the pieces necessary to build a championship-caliber team that the university and community will be proud of and excited to support.”
Reiss also joins a league with multiple personal ties among their respective coaching staffs. Dawn Staley has won three national championships at South Carolina and was a college teammate at Virginia. Yolett McPhee-McCuin is a URI alum who just finished her eighth season at Mississippi and qualified for a fifth straight NCAA Tournament.
Florida has finished 5-11 in four straight SEC campaigns and missed March Madness each year. The Gators have made a lone appearance since 2015-16, and that came in Finley’s debut in 2021-22. Her last game in charge was an 82-64 defeat against Oklahoma in the conference tournament second round.
“Tammi Reiss is a proven winner and an outstanding leader whose experience as both a player and coach stood out throughout this process,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a statement. “She brings tremendous enthusiasm, an unbelievable competitive spirit, and a relentless work ethic that will resonate with our student-athletes and our entire program.”
Finley had one year remaining on the extension she signed at the close of that first campaign. Florida owes her the $740,000 guaranteed annual base in the deal, the last of the minimum $3.7 million she was due to collect. That amount included an annual base salary of $425,000 – equal to what Reiss brought home with the Rams – and superior earnings with respect to allowances and incentives.
URI graduates starters Ines Debroise, Brooklyn Gray and Palmire Mbu off a team that enjoyed a 17-game winning streak to set a new program record. Ta’Viyanna Habib and Valentina Ojeda have also exhausted their eligibility after playing one season as transfers. Sophia Vital, Albina Syla and Vanessa Harris are among the headliners who could return to Kingston in 2026-27.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On X: @BillKoch25
