CAMDEN, N.J. (August 19, 2022) – After nine seasons as the head women's basketball coach at Rutgers University-Camden, Annette Reiter has announced her retirement from coaching to focus on spending time with her family and grandchildren.
 
"I have decided, after careful thought, that it is time for me to retire from coaching," said Reiter, who joined the Rutgers-Camden program for the 2013-14 season. "This is not an easy decision as basketball has been a huge part of my life, first as a player, then as a coach for 30 years. I am excited to now be able to spend more time with my growing family, especially my five grandchildren that I have been blessed with over the past six years. Thank you Rutgers."
 
During her tenure at Rutgers-Camden, Reiter helped the Scarlet Raptors set a program record with four straight winning seasons from 2015-16 to 2018-19. The program nearly added a fifth straight winning season in 2019-20, posting a 12-13 record with a young team that featured only two upperclassmen and nine freshmen.
 
Over her Rutgers-Camden tenure, the Scarlet Raptors produced 13 All-New Jersey Athletic Conference players and 26 All-NJAC Academic honorees. Kamari Talley was named the NJAC Player of the Year and went on to capture All-America Third Team honors from D3hoops.com during the 2015-16 season. Over the years, two of Reiter's athletes represented Rutgers-Camden in the NJAIAW Woman of the Year program, including Tanjae Lewis (2014-15) and Michelle Obasi (2017-18).
 
Reiter coached three 1,000-point scorers in Gabby Greene (1,295 points from 2015-19), Fatimah Williams (1,240 from 2016-20) and Obasi (1,193 from 2014-18). Greene and Obasi finished tied for second on the program's career list with 103 games played, while Cara Racobaldo (2014-18) finished fifth with 101 games. Racobaldo became the program's all-time leader with 503 assists, while Greene set the career mark with 280 three-point field goals.
 
Rutgers-Camden reached the NJAC playoffs five times during Reiter's nine seasons after missing the conference tournament for the previous 10 seasons. The Scarlet Raptors also played in three ECAC championships under Reiter.
 
"We want to thank Coach Reiter for all she has done for Rutgers University-Camden and the women's basketball program," said Athletic Director Jeffrey Dean, who is conducting interviews for her successor. "She has played a vital role in the development of the program and with the support she has given to our student-athletes over the years. We will miss her, but wish her all the best in her retirement."
 
After spending a year as the head coach for Penn State-Abington during the 2012-13 season, Reiter was hired in May, 2013 to lead the Scarlet Raptors' program. She was charged with rebuilding a program that had seen only one winning season since the 2002-03 campaign. She inherited a team that went 10-15 the year before she arrived and lost its top two players. Reiter took over a program that had graduated one of its all-time great players in 1,000-point scorer Brittany Turner. Shortly before Reiter's first semester on campus, her top returning player, Lillian Chukwueze, transferred to a Division II program. Chukwueze had averaged 13.7 points and team-leading totals of 9.5 rebounds, 63 assists and 48 steals in her previous season. Once the season started, Reiter lost her starting point guard, Monica Burch, to an early-season injury. With a youth-laden team – the Raptors had only two seniors, who combined to start six games – Rutgers-Camden struggled to a 5-19 record.
 
The team improved to 9-16 in Reiter's second year with the Scarlet Raptors, including a 5-13 NJAC record that was its best conference mark since winning the NJAC crown to cap the 2002-03 season. Along the way, the Scarlet Raptors snapped a 30-game NJAC losing streak, beating New Jersey City University, 65-63, on Jan. 14, 2015. Not only was it Rutgers-Camden's first NJAC win since Jan. 23, 2013, but it was followed by a 76-57 victory over Ramapo College three days later, giving the Raptors their first two-game conference winning streak since the 2011-12 season (Dec. 7 and Jan. 7).
 
Reiter's team broke through for a 15-11 record during the 2015-16 campaign, which also featured the program's first NJAC playoff berth since the 2002-03 season. The team went 10-8 in conference play that season, producing as many NJAC victories as in the previous four years combined.
 
Reiter received a prestigious honor on March 24, 2015 when she was inducted into the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame.
 
All of those accomplishments earned Reiter recognition as Rutgers-Camden's Coach of the Year for the 2015-16 scholastic year. She added her second Rutgers-Camden Coach of the Year honor during the 2017-18 scholastic year.
 
Reiter's fourth Scarlet Raptor team posted a 14-12 overall record in 2016-17 and became the first women's basketball team at Rutgers-Camden to earn back-to-back ECAC tournament berths since the teams in 2000-01 and 2001-02. Rutgers-Camden's 4-0 start that season tied a program record for the best undefeated start. In winning six of its first seven games, the team tied a program record for the second-best start ever, passed only by the 2011-12 club, which jumped out of the gate at 9-1.
 
Reiter's 2017-18 club went 14-12 for the second consecutive season, but the Raptors' 11-7 NJAC mark was their best conference record since a 12-6 record in 2002-03, when they won their only NJAC championship.
 
Prior to her time at Rutgers-Camden, Reiter spent one season at Penn State-Abington, where she helped the Nittany Lions post a 9-16 record. It was a major improvement over their 0-23 mark from the previous season.
 
Reiter also had plenty of experience in the NJAC, where she served for three seasons as an assistant coach at Rowan University.
 
Reiter played on four state championship teams at Gloucester Catholic High School. The former Annette Angelotti went on to star at Widener University, winning three Middle Atlantic Conference championships during her career from 1979-83. She scored 1,568 points, third on the program's all-time list, and graduated from Widener in 1983 as a Nursing major.
 
Reiter started her coaching career as an assistant at her alma mater, Gloucester Catholic High School, during the 1991-92 season. One of her former stars, Cheryl Kulesa, eventually earned NJAC Player of the Year and All-America honors at Rutgers-Camden while leading the Scarlet Raptors to the 2003 conference title.
 
After six seasons with the Rams, Reiter became the head coach for the Glassboro High School girls' basketball team from 1997-2000 and then took over the reins of the Bishop Eustace Prep program from 2000-2005. Her Crusaders won the 2002 Parochial B state championship, giving her state titles as both a player and a coach.
 
Reiter took a break from high school coaching in 2005 as she watched her own children play basketball. She remained involved with the game through the AAU Tri-State Tar Heels, coaching their youth club through 2009. She joined the Rowan staff for the 2009-10 season and coached one year at Penn State-Abington in 2012-13 before becoming the head coach at Rutgers-Camden.
 
Reiter also found the time to write a book, "Parenting an Athlete," which was published in 2011. Her daughter Alyssa played at NJAC member Richard Stockton College and received her Doctorate Degree from University of the Sciences, graduating summa cum laude in May, 2014. Her son Brad graduated magna cum laude in 2014 from the Rutgers School of Law on the Camden campus. Her daughter Kristina was a member of the Widener University women's basketball team before graduating in May, 2015. Kristina Reiter, who served as an assistant coach at Rutgers-Camden for four seasons, received her Doctoral degree of Physical Therapy from Widener in 2018.
 
Annette Reiter received her Masters of Arts degree from Rutgers-Camden in 2018. She resides in Sewell, New Jersey, with her husband David.