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Joanna Reitz

  • Title
    Head Coach

Joanna Reitz, a seasoned coach with experience in Division I play, was announced as the University of West Georgia's 12th head women's basketball coach in program history prior to the 2022-23 season. Reitz comes to UWG following a distinguished career as an assistant coach, spending nearly 15 years in the southeast, including stops at GSC rival Shorter and Division I Mercer, before landing at her most recent position at Division I Utah in 2017. 

Reitz's second season in Carrollton, saw the Wolves' go 16-13 overall, a three-win improvement, and finish .500 in league play, also an improvement from the year prior. Two individuals garnered great success in year two, led by Zuriyah Davis who became UWG's first All-GSC selection in seven seasons and finished third in the conference in points per game as a junior. Sophomore center K'Nari Holliday finished the season as an NCAA Statistical Champion in Field Goal Percentage under Reitz in 2024, shooting 61.7 percent from the field, becoming the third player in UWG history to earn the honor of NCAA Statistical Champion.

In her first season at the helm of the UWG program, Reitz and the Wolves saw solid improvement, winning the most games since the 2019-20 season with 13 victories. The Wolves ended the regular season 6-2 and returned to the Gulf South Conference Tournament for the first time since 2020 and earned the league's sixth seed, despite being picked 11th in the GSC Preseason Poll.

Individually, Reitz's team produced the GSC Freshman of the Week eight times with Aliyah Washington earning the honors seven times throughout the season, while Katelyn Dunning earned it once. Washington's seven Freshman of the Week selections, under Reitz's leadership, led her to become West Georgia's first GSC Freshman of the Year since 1991. Under Reitz, Senior Forward Peace Okeke recorded eight double-doubles during the season, the most by a single UWG player since the 2016-17 season. 

Off the court, Reitz helped improve the team's GPA from 3.11 to 3.47. Reitz and her team also contributed over 80 hours of community service. 

In her career, Reitz has coached a total of 20 players who went on to play professional women's basketball, with recent University of West Georgia alum Jada Powell becoming her first former player at UWG to join the professional ranks.

Reitz ventured to the "City of Dreams" after spending five seasons at Utah following previous coaching stints at USC-Aiken (assistant coach – 2015-17), Mercer (assistant coach – 2013-15), Shorter (assistant coach – 2011-13) and as the Director of Recruiting Operations at Florida State (2010-11). She spent three additional seasons with the Seminoles as a graduate assistant from 2007-2010. 

While at Utah, Reitz had significant responsibilities in the area of player development, recruiting, scouting, and game planning. In addition, she was an academic liaison for the Utes and played a role in booster, campus, and community relations. As a recruiter, she helped recruit and sign back-to-back top-25 recruiting classes in 2019 and 2020. In her time at Utah, Reitz recruited two Pac-12 Freshmen of the Year, six Gatorade Players of the Year, and six All-Conference selections. In her final season in Salt Lake City, she guided the Utes to a pair of upsets in the Pac-12 conference tournament as Utah made their first-ever appearance in the Pac-12 Championship game. 

At USC-Aiken, she was involved with all aspects of the program, helping the Pacers to improve by four wins in 2016-17, going from six Peach Belt Conference wins in the 2015-16 season to 10 conference wins in 2016-17. Retiz also recruited and signed Kwajelin Farrar, the 2017 PBC Freshman of the Year. 

Prior to her stint in Aiken, Reitz was an assistant coach at Mercer University in Macon, where she recruited three of the most successful players in the Bears' history. She recruited and signed three players who were named as the SoCon Player of the Year for four consecutive years. That includes Kahlia Lawrence, who was the 2015 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, then was named the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2018, she became the highest draft pick in SoCon women's basketball history as the 24th overall pick in the WNBA draft. 

Before Mercer, Reitz spent two seasons on the bench as an assistant coach at a Gulf South Conference member institution, helping the Shorter Hawks to a 28-7 record in 2011-12. She helped guide the Hawks to transition from NAIA Division I to NCAA Division II, and as defensive coordinator in 2011-12, Shorter was the top defensive team in NAIA Division I, allowing just 31.6 percent shooting on the year. She also recruited Taylor Adams to Rome and Adams eventually became a First Team All-GSC performer and a WBCA All-American. 

Following a successful playing career at Covenant College, Reitz became a graduate assistant at Florida State, where she helped with recruiting, camps, player care, and scout team oversight for the back-to-back ACC Regular Season Champions, making a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2010. In 2010-11, she was elevated to the Director of Recruiting Operations, handling recruiting coordination, game scheduling, camp direction, and booster/alumni liaison. 

She played college hoops at Covenant College from 2002-06 where she was a four-year starter, three-time team captain, and three-time all-academic selection. She was named to the All-Conference team in 2006. She was a 1,000-point scorer at Covenant, finishing her career with 1,557 points, which is ninth all-time as of 2022. She made 146 three-pointers in her career and is eighth all-time at Covenant with 584 field goals made. 

Reitz graduated with a degree in natural science in 2006 and went on to receive master's degrees in physical education and business administration from Florida State.