Tahnee Balerio named women's basketball associate head coach
Thursday, April 9, 2026 | Women's Basketball
GAINESVILE, Fla. — Florida Head Women's Basketball Coach Tammi Reiss announced today that the team has hired former Georgia Associate Head Coach Tahnee Balerio (TAWN-ee buh-LAIR-ee-oh) as the Gators' new associate head coach. In her nearly two decades on the sidelines, Balerio has garnered a reputation for developing some of the best guards in the country, and being a part of coaching staffs that consistently build programs into conference championship and NCAA Tournament contenders.
"I couldn't be more excited to welcome Tahnee and her family into our Gator Family," said Reiss. "There is one attribute that fires me up most about her, and that is her energy! She will absolutely pour her heart and soul into our student-athletes and our program. Tahnee is an incredible relationship builder which enables her to recruit at a high level. I am really excited to have someone of her caliber that specializes in defense and presses, as well as being an elite skill developer. She has postseason experience, as she has led teams to 10 NCAA Tournament bids. I feel blessed to finally be working with her and not against her."
"I am so excited to be here at the University of Florida," said Balerio. "Every school I have been at has had some connection to the Gators, so this is a full-circle moment for me, and I am ready to help Coach Tammi get this program back to the NCAA Tournament and win championships. I believe in Coach's culture and philosophy, and how much she pours into our student-athletes. I'm ready to get to work, and make everyone take notice of the Gators!"
For the past four seasons, Balerio served as the Lady Bulldogs' associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. Georgia made a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances during her time in Athens, and was ranked as high as 22nd in the nation last year. The team's 22 wins in both 2025-26 and 2022-23 were the most for the program since the 2017-18 season.
Balerio made an immediate impact upon arriving at Georgia developing Diamond Battles into an All-SEC Second Team and All-Defensive Team guard in 2022-23. During the 2024-25 campaign, Balerio mentored All-SEC Freshman Team guard Trinity Turner, who became the first Georgia rookie to lead the team in scoring since 2004 SEC and National Freshman of the Year Tasha Humphrey.
Prior to joining the Lady Bulldogs, Balerio was an assistant and associate head coach at Central Florida where she helped guide the Knights to three NCAA Tournament appearances and the program's first national ranking in 2021-22. That same season, UCF recorded its highest-ever winning percentage (26-4, .867), and its first NCAA Tournament victory.
Under Balerio's guidance, Battles was named the 2022 AAC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and AAC Tournament MVP, while junior guard Alisha Lewis was tabbed the 2021 Newcomer and Sixth Player of the Year.
In 2020, senior guard Kay Kay Wright was named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List and was recognized among the nation's best with a spot on the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Year Watch List. She was a consensus first-team All-AAC selection and finished her career second in assists (494) and third in points (1,614) in UCF history. She was also named the Preseason AAC Player of the Year (the first in program history to earn that distinction), and is the only Knight to score 1,600 points, dish out over 400 assists and record over 250 steals in her career.
Balerio's first collegiate coaching stop was in Albany, New York where she spent two years as the director of basketball operations and four as an assistant coach for the Great Danes. Albany captured four America East regular seasons crowns during those six seasons, and made five NCAA Tournaments.
During her time in New York, Balerio worked with the likes of guards Sarah Royals, Lindsay Lowrie, Imani Tate and Zakiya Saunders — Royals finished her career as the program's career assists leader; Lowrie graduated with the second highest three-point field goal percentage in Albany history; Tate posted the fourth-highest scoring season in program history in 2015-16; and Saunders broke the school record for assists and ranked sixth in the NCAA with 6.9 assists per game that same season.
As a player, Balerio was a two-time MVP and a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection at Missouri State and also earned Scholar Athlete honors. She led the Bears in scoring during the 2006-07 campaign, averaging 18.7 points per game — tops in the Missouri Valley Conference. After graduation, she was the head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Mo.
Balerio earned her degree in entertainment management from Missouri State. She is married to Lily Grenci, and the couple has a daughter named Zelda Lynn Balerio, born March 23, 2022.
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