The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Syracuse assistant Reiss one of the few to beat Geno
STORRS » The mere mention of that memorable game 26 years ago still brings a charge out of Syracuse assistant coach Tammi Reiss.
Reiss vividly remembers the 1991 national semifinal when her Virginia team ended Geno Auriemma’s first Final Four run. But the recollections go back further than that.
“I remember Geno vividly because he recruited me,” Reiss said. “I got my first (recruiting) letter, he is the reason I went to Virginia. The first letter I ever got was from him, I put it on my wall and said that is where I am going. It helped that I would see him at camps, he was tan, a good-looking guy.
“It didn’t surprise me that he got a head job and I let UConn do a home (visit), but I ended up going to Virginia and two years later there he is in the Final Four. That didn’t surprise me just because of who he was, the swagger that he had.”
Auriemma reached the Final Four in his sixth season after he left his gig as the assistant coach at Virginia. Many of the star players from that Virginia team that reached the national semifinals were contacted by Auriemma early on in the recruiting process.
“He always caught my eye and I remember that game and thinking he got here so quickly and his kids play so hard,” Reiss said. “They were East Coast gritty kids, they just went through brick walls. I don’t remember them being All-Americans, but they play hard and I said this team is going to be there and a few years
later, look what he built.”
Reiss was on the coaching staff at Virginia when the Huskies beat the Cavaliers in the Elite Eight en route to winning the program’s first national title in 1995.
“They win it and from there it has been amazing,” Reiss said. “I will cherish it. We were one of the only teams to beat him and it was his first time. I sit back and I know, I have been a player and a coach. I know how hard it is to get there not just win 11 of them, go undefeated back to back, it blows my mind so that is why I cherish, ‘at least I got one against them.’ Much respect, he is an unbelievable coach.”
Reiss said she has watched each one of UConn’s games this year. It certainly helps that most of the games are televised on SNY.
“It’s the culture he has built, but more important I think it is the mentality that he developed with his culture,” Reiss said. “They know they are the best, they know the expectation and the intangibles, he doesn’t have to coach that. He doesn’t have to coach effort, he doesn’t have to coach hard work, it is a culture he has brought in and I respect that because (these) days all you see are coaches through every sport and all they do is complain about this generation and the entitlement. He doesn’t have to coach that because he knows that the kids he goes after and when they get here, that is the culture he has brought and then he develops them.
“You can see the progression as players. We were talking about how Napheesa Collier goes from shooting 12 percent (as a freshman) from the 3 to 40 percent. Obviously great players are going to get (more) skilled, but he develops that and they become high IQ kids and it is fun to watch. I watch every one of their games, I am not joking. If I don’t catch it live, I DVR it, I watch every one of their games. I respect watching great basketball and that is why when I go home and watch his games. I watch his post-game show, just respect what he has built here. As an assistant you always want to do is learn and that is what I try to do, learn from this program.”
Former UConn assistant coach Tonya Cardoza, now the head coach at Temple, was a member of that Virginia team that reached the 1991 national title game.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Reiss said of Cardoza’s coaching success. “She is a great person, a great recruiter and she learned from the best. You’ve been here how many years with him and no surprise that she combines both because she is such a good person and kids will go play for her in a heartbeat. It is like Dawn (Staley, the South Carolina coach), same thing and now you have a chance to be with the best. She has taken what she has needed to take from him and molded it to her personality and built her program, it doesn’t surprise me whatsoever.
“We loved the game. You could tell, we are all coaches from Audra Smith to Dawn to Tonya to me to Kathy McConnell, we are all involved in the game because we love the game. If you love the game, you are going to be successful because you compete, you play that hard. I hope that this generation you see more when (Diana) Taurasi retires or Sue Bird retires or some of these kids from these programs retire, they love the game so much it would be a shame not to get back involved and give back to the next generation of kids.”