Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year Tammi Reiss has agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep her at Rhode Island through the 2025-26 season, Director of Athletics Thorr Bjorn announced Tuesday.
“When we hired Tammi, the goal was to set a new standard of excellence for women’s basketball at the University of Rhode Island,” Bjorn said. “She has revitalized the program and brought in student-athletes who are excelling in all areas on and off the court. Tammi has met and exceeded all expectations, and it is exciting to think that she and her staff are still early in their process.”
The contract extension for Reiss was announced shortly after she was named the A-10 Coach of the Year. This season, Reiss led the Rams to an 11-7 record overall, and an 11-4 mark in conference play. It was the second-most league wins in program history, behind only the 13-3 mark of the 1995-96 team. Reiss also joined Linda Ziemke (1995-96) as the only URI women’s basketball coaches to be named A-10 Coach of the Year.
“I would like to thank President David Dooley, his wife, Lynn, and our Director of Athletics Thorr Bjorn for their belief in myself, my staff and our program,” Reiss said. “I am so excited for the future of Rhody women’s basketball. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the players who chose to play for us at URI and bought into our culture and vision so quickly. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my assistant coaches and support staff. This would not be possible without their hard work, passion and dedication to their jobs and our program. So, ‘Thank You’ to each and every one of you! I have never been more excited to say, “Go Rhody!”
In two seasons since taking over the program, Reiss is 24-23 overall and 17-14 in conference play. In the 10 seasons before her arrival, Rhode Island was 24-126 in league play. She has turned the Ryan Center into a true home court advantage, with Rhody going 17-6 at home over the last two seasons.
In addition to Reiss being named the league’s coach of the year, redshirt junior Emmanuelle Tahane was named Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year. She also earned First-Team All-Conference and Academic All-Conference honors. Redshirt sophomore Marie-Paule Foppossi was named to the A-10 Second Team All-Conference, while freshman Catherine Cairns landed on the league’s All-Rookie Team.
Off the court, seven of the 11 players with available grade-point averages on the roster have a 3.0 or higher, and three more have a 2.87 or better.
Reiss’ team will be the No. 4 seed at the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship, which begins play on Wednesday. The Rams earned a double bye and will play against a yet-to-be-determined opponent Friday at 2:30 p.m.
