College of Central Florida Women’s Basketball Coach Cheryl Rice will end her esteemed coaching career Oct.1 and transition into a new role on campus as manager of the CF Office of Professional Development.
True to the program’s legacy of excellence, Director of Athletics Bob Zelinski has hired a proven winner to replace Rice in Sharrona Reaves, an accomplished recruiter and coach with a history of success at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level.
An Ocala native and former Lady Patriot student-athlete, Rice led CF to nine consecutive postseason appearances over her 10-year tenure, including three Mid-Florida Conference championships and two appearances in the Florida College System Activities Association State Tournament championship game. She owns a career record of 201 wins and 115 losses and has posted 20 or more wins in six of her 10 seasons.
Rice entered coaching after a distinguished playing career at CF and the University of South Alabama. In 1991, Rice was named assistant coach at Okaloosa-Walton Community College, now named Northwest Florida State College. She took over the prestigious program two years later and led the Lady Raiders to consecutive state championships, in 1995 and 1996. Rice returned to South Alabama after the second of her state titles, serving as head coach of the Division I Lady Jaguars from 1996 to 2000. In 2002, she accepted an offer to return to her hometown and lead the Lady Patriots.
Sharrona Reaves will replace her as the head coach. Reaves, a former student-athlete at Northwest Florida State College and the University of Alabama, brings major Division I playing and coaching experience to CF. On the court, Reaves captained the Crimson Tide to a Final Four appearance in 1994; on the sideline, her career includes time on the staffs of SEC school Mississippi State University and Big East Conference power West Virginia University.
After graduating from Alabama in 1995, Reaves launched her coaching career as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Troy University. In 2003 she joined the staff at West Virginia, where she spent three successful seasons. Reaves accepted her first head coaching job at NCAA Division II program Long Island University Post, where she led the Pioneers to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in more than a decade. Her two-year stint with Mississippi State concluded in 2010; she comes to CF after a two-year hiatus from coaching in which she served as athletics compliance coordinator at Alabama State University.
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