By ELIZABETH SEABORN
Special to LongwoodLancers.com
FARMVILLE, Va. – Bill Reinson has always wanted to coach basketball. Now that he has been head coach of women's basketball at Longwood for five years, that seems like a reasonable aspiration. But there was a time when realizing his dream seemed pretty unlikely—maybe even impossible.
Born in New Jersey, Reinson grew up in Mesa, Ariz. He played basketball in high school but not at the college level. Reinson attended several different colleges and then dropped out to work in distribution for the Arizona Republic newspaper. He worked there for 15 years; married his wife, Lana, whom he met at the paper; and started a family. He never coached basketball at any level, but the dream of coaching professionally stuck with him.
With the encouragement of his wife, Reinson went back to college. He enrolled at the University of Phoenix and completed his business degree in March 2000, hoping the credential would help him find a coaching job. He sent out hundreds of resumes, but not one raised a flicker of interest. Then, one day, everything changed.
"I used to check the NCAA online every morning," Reinson said. One morning he saw a post by University of North Carolina at Greensboro looking for a director of basketball operations. There was one small catch—the position was strictly volunteer—but Reinson didn't think twice before picking up the phone and leaving a message.
The next morning, there was a message from Fran McCaffery, head coach at Greensboro. Reinson returned the call and agreed to go to UNCG for an interview. In their meetings, McCaffery reiterated that the job was a volunteer position and wondered how a man with three children would be able to work without pay. "I told him my wife and I are both committed to doing this," Reinson said. McCaffery agreed to think about it, citing Reinson's family as the reason for his hesitation.
When he got back home, Reinson and Lana talked about what happened, but neither of them believed anything would come of the meeting. A few days later, Reinson's wife came outside where he was cutting down a palm tree in the front yard and told him he had a phone call. "She had this funny look on her face," Reinson said.
McCaffery was on the line; again, making sure Reinson understood the position would not provide him with a paycheck. "I said, 'Yes, I understand.' And McCaffery said, 'OK, I would like to offer you the position of director of basketball operations.'"
Though Reinson and his wife had talked about his accepting the position, neither had figured out how they would actually accomplish such a drastic move. Nevertheless, they forged ahead.
Reinson went into work the next day and gave his two-week notice. He moved to Greensboro in September of 2000 by himself and got an apartment. He and Lana put their home on the market, and, when the house sold, Lana packed up her three children and drove across the country from Arizona to Greensboro.
"We dropped everything, sold our house, quit our jobs. She got a job at the Winston-Salem Journal, and I worked for free. That's how I got into college basketball," said Reinson.
Reinson worked without pay for a year and then took a monthly position for another year at UNC Greensboro. After that, it was time to find a full-time position. A friend told Reinson about an assistant coaching position at Longwood, and, after meeting then-coach Mark Leeder, he was hired in 2002 as a men's assistant coach. Halfway through the year, Reinson was asked to help out with the women's team. When Shirley Duncan, women's head coach, retired, she asked Reinson if he would be interested in the position. Unfortunately, Reinson was passed over for the job and stayed on the men's staff until eight years later in 2010 when director of Athletics Troy Austin offered him the position of head coach fo the women's team.
Reinson's head coaching career at Longwood has seen numerous highlights, especially since Longwood joined the Big South Conference in 2012-13. He opened the Big South era with three straight wins against Radford, Gardner-Webb and Winthrop. Also included are wins over Xavier, a Big East opponent in 2013, as well as wins against No. 2 seeded Winthrop in the Big South Quarterfinals in 2013, before following it with a win against No. 6 seed Radford. Longwood advanced to the Big South Championship game that year, only to fall, 54-45 to Liberty.
In his professional life and in his personal life, Reinson and his wife have had the courage to do what they think is right.
Reinson and Lana are the proud parents of three biological children and seven adopted children. After their three daughters were born, the Reinsons decided to adopt a son and ended up with two brothers. When another set of siblings was in need of a family, the Reinsons did not hesitate. Four more daughters and another son joined the family.
They knew making these children a part of their family was the right thing to do, just as they knew pursuing Reinson's dream of coaching college basketball was the right thing to do.
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