Reis embraces challenge of returning QU women’s soccer program to GLVC frontrunner

QUINCY — Taylor Reis isn’t shy about what gets him jazzed about being the next women’s soccer coach at Quincy University.

“Hopefully winning,” Reis said.

Winning matters to the QU alum. Always has, always will.

In high school, Reis led Quincy Notre Dame in assists as a junior when the Raiders won the Class 1A state championship and was named an all-state midfielder as a senior. At Quincy University, he started on the 2014 team that reached the NCAA Division II final four, was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2015 and was twice an All-Midwest Region selection.

“My dad, who is a big influence on a lot of my life, has instilled that winning mentality and being crazy about winning,” said Reis, whose father, Greg, has won more than 400 games and three state championships at QND. 

“That’s the goal. Winning is the goal. That’s what I told the team when I initially met with them. I’m excited, I want to work with the team and get to know everybody and build those relationships. I’m excited about what we can do.”

The challenge is to elevate the QU program back to where it once was after Reis was officially named the QU coach on Wednesday.

The Hawks have finished with a losing record in five of the last six seasons and haven’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2017. From 2006-17, Quincy qualified for the NCAA Tournament 10 times and won four GLVC championships.

Mackenzie Schissel resigned in November following three seasons at the helm in order to devote time to her family. The Hawks were 4-10-3 last season and have gone 10-27-13 in the past three seasons.

“There’s always going to be work to be done,” Reis said. “The challenge of any position is it’s a never-ending cycle of recruiting and trying to find the right players. That’s something you have to embrace. We have to get on the right track and get back to the traditional Quincy winning ways. 

“It’s there. It’s possible. There’s no excuse not to get there is kind of the way I’m looking at it. It’s time and effort really.”

Reis is willing to put that in.

He spent the past six seasons as an assistant coach with the QU men’s soccer program, the first two as a graduate assistant and the last four as a full-time assistant. He’s had a hand in every aspect of the program during that time, which has prepared him to be a head coach.

“I feel like I’ve been ready for a few years and I passed up a few opportunities that I didn’t think were the right fit for me,” Reis said. “Once this came available, I felt like it was the right fit for me and my family. Most importantly, I was ready to do my own thing, be a head coach and try to make an impact on the women’s program and Quincy soccer in general.”

Reis’ devotion to the university caught the administration’s attention.

“He’s a person of high character first of all,” QU athletic director Josh Rabe said. “Second of all, he’s demonstrated his love for Quincy University. He’s been a player and an assistant coach for years, and this is a great opportunity for him to showcase himself and to run his own program.”

There won’t be too many unknowns as Reis takes over.

“The fit for me was really important,” Reis said. “The fit of Quincy University, what the goals were, what I was looking for, everything made sense to me. I’m excited about it. I feel like I know mostly everything there is to know about Quincy University. It’s a great fit for me, and it made total sense. So I figured I might as well go for it.”

What’s left is to put a product on the field.

“I just want to see how he’s going to do things,” Rabe said. “That program is thirsty for someone to come in and make it their own and get it going on the right track. Not that Mackenzie didn’t have it going that way, but she left her tenure a little sooner than I thought was coming. And it’s still a story to be written.”

It’s a story that needs some Ws in the win column to be written properly.

“The whole experience is kind of dulled if you don’t do well on the field,” Reis said. “When you’re successful, you stay connected and you want to come back. I’ve seen that with the teams I was a part of and the teams from the NAIA era. We want to bring that back to the women’s program.”