Bill Reinson begins his 14th season in the athletics department at Longwood and seventh season as the leader of the women’s basketball program. Throughout his tenure, Reinson has guided the Lancers to a 47-128 mark since taking over as interim head coach on Dec. 6, 2010. He was officially elevated to the head coaching position following the 2010-11 season on April 12, 2011.
Throughout his seven-year tenure, Reinson has guided the Lancer program into the Big South era. His 2012-13 team advanced to the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Championship game before falling to Liberty. He was named the 2013 Virginia Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In addition, Reinson has coached the program’s only three 1,000-point scorers in the Division I era, including Daeisha Brown, Chelsea Coward and Crystal Smith.
During his tenure, Longwood has tested itself against many of the top programs in the nation, playing the likes of Notre Dame, Maryland and Oregon State. The Lancers have played four games against ranked competition, with three games against teams inside the top-10.
The 2015-16 season saw Reinson guide the Lancers to an 8-22 overall record and a 5-15 mark in the Big South, as injuries plagued the roster throughout the season with just three players on the 16-man roster having played in each of the team’s 30 games. Reinson oversaw the development of Longwood’s roster, in particular, Micaela Ellis who led the team in assists and minutes. Longwood was led in scoring by senior Kyndal Skersick and redshirt-junior Brown, who each averaged 9.0 points per game. In addition, junior college transfer Eboni Gilliam provided a rebounding and low-post threat for the Lancers, leading the team and ranking among the top-10 in the Big South with 6.9 boards per contest.
In addition, Brown became the 21st player in program history and the third player in the Division I era to tally 1,000 career points in a Longwood uniform Feb. 20, 2016 at Radford. Brown became the fastest player in the Division I era to reach 1,000 points, doing so in her 80th career game, five games faster than it took Coward to reach the milestone.
The 2014-15 campaign saw Reinson lead Longwood to a 4-26 overall record. Injuries plagued the Longwood roster throughout the campaign, with ACL tears to Brown, a Preseason Second-Team All-Big South selection and leading rebounder Khlaliah Ali. Reinson oversaw the development of Raven Williams who elevated her level of play despite the injury to Brown, averaging 13.3 points per contest to earn Honorable Mention All-Big South honors.
Perhaps, Reinson’s biggest regular season victory came during the 2013-14 season where the Lancers downed Xavier, 67-64. It was the highlight of the season for a Longwood squad that posted an 8-22 overall record, including a mark of 5-15 in Big South competition. The Lancers were led by backcourt duo of Brown and Williams, who each averaged in double figures.
In 2012-13, Reinson guided his squad to a 14-19 overall record, including an 8-10 mark in the program’s inaugural season in the Big South, and an appearance in the VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Championship game. The Lancers’ 14 wins marked the most victories for the team since its first year playing a Division I schedule back in 2007-08 (16). Under Reinson’s guidance, the Lancers won their first four games of the Big South era, including its Big South debut at Gardner-Webb.
The team earned the No. 7 seed for the tournament before winning three-straight postseason games to advance to the conference’s title game against in-state foe Liberty University. Longwood’s run to the Championship marked just the third time in Big South history that a No. 7 seed played in the championship game. For his efforts, Reinson was recognized as the 2013 Virginia Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Reinson’s first full season in leading the blue and white saw the Lancers finish with a 7-22 mark. The Lancers played two games against top-15 opponents, including a narrow 56-45 defeat at No. 11 Georgetown in the season-opener. Longwood also faced national-power Maryland. The Lancers had three double figure scorers throughout the season, including Smith (11.2 PPG), Brittani Billups (11.0 PPG) and Coward (10.3 PPG).
After taking over the program six games into the 2011-12 season and being elevated to interim head coach from men’s assistant coach, Reinson guided the Lancers to six of their seven victories throughout the season. Following a 1-5 start to the season, Reinson took the reins of the program and earned his first victory of his tenure with a 74-70 decision against Wright State.
Prior to taking over the women’s program, Reinson had been an assistant coach with the Longwood men’s program since 2002. He served as the interim men’s head coach for two games (1-1) late in the 2002-03 season, his first at the school, due to an illness of the head coach at that time.
Additionally, he was an assistant women’s coach with the Lancers for the final 13 games of 2002-03 (27-5) under Longwood’s all-time winningest coach and 2015 Longwood Hall of Fame inductee Shirley Duncan during the final year of Division II eligibility, helping the team to an 11-2 record in those games while winning the CVAC Tournament and advancing to the second-round of the NCAA East Regional.
His first position in the coaching ranks saw Reinson serve two seasons (2000-02) as an assistant men’s coach at UNC Greensboro. During his time at UNCG, Reinson learned under the tutelage of current Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. The Spartans went 39-23 overall throughout his two seasons, winning the 2001 Southern Conference Tournament Championship. UNC Greensboro earned one NCAA Tournament appearance (2001) and made one NIT appearance (2002).
A native of Mesa, Arizona, Reinson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. He and his wife, Lana, have seven daughters: Megan (28), a graduate of Virginia Tech, Bria (23), Taylor (19), twins Ashley (14) and Brittany (14), Krystal (13), and Mia (9) along with three sons: Dominic (16), Niko (15) and Spiros (13).
