After going stride-for-stride with LSU in last year’s NCAA tournament, coach Tomekia Reed has been carefully crafting a plan to return to the Big Dance.
Tomekia Reed loathes complacency. That trait doesn’t exist in her DNA. Mediocrity doesn’t fit in her visual perception as a coach or a full-time mother to her 10-year-old son, Carlon. “She’s big on discipline and demands excellence,” says Jackson State guard Miya Crump. Reed is in constant pursuit of growth and success. It’s how she has elevated the JSU women’s basketball program—her matter-of-fact approach to details, eye-catching outfits at games and fortitude through adversity breeds confidence in her players, not allowing them to settle for less, even when they are exhausted.