Mimi Reid earns back-to-back degrees from Ole Miss.
Mimi Reid knew at a young age that she wanted to make a difference. Two degrees from the University of Mississippi later, along with numerous life experiences, she has remained true to her path.
Last weekend, Reid received her Master of Criminal Justice, just a year after receiving her undergraduate degree in the same major.
“I chose my major when I was in high school; I knew what I wanted – criminal justice,” said the point guard for an Ole Miss women’s basketball team that this past season made its way into the national rankings and the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 15 years. “A lot of my wants and needs in what I wanted in criminal justice came from my background.
“I’m from the Bronx, Castle Hill projects, specifically. So, I mean, I don’t come from a bunch of houses that are nice in the neighborhood. (There is) a lot of gang activity, things you don’t want your child to see. But it was the circumstance I was raised in.”
The struggles were real, and her family was not immune. They have experienced numerous ups and downs through the years, and especially so since Reid arrived at Ole Miss for the fall semester of the 2017-18 school year.
“I went a different route, and here I am getting my master’s,” Reid said of some of the things she left behind in New York City. “My brother was in and out of the system; a couple of my brothers, actually.
“I just wanted to be that change, and I felt like at times that nobody had somebody they could lean on when things would go wrong or they would make a mistake. So I was like, ‘I’m going into criminal justice, and I’m going to be there for my brothers.’ So that was pretty much my whole thing.”
Reid was recruited to UM by former head coach Matt Insell and his staff. She redshirted her first year after suffering a season-ending Achilles tendon injury in the preseason. She didn’t really consider leaving because she was where she wanted to be.
“The previous staff recruited me; they wanted me here,” Reid said. “But my journey took a turn when I got injured. I really didn’t have that basketball experience.
“So when that coaching staff left, I was like, ‘Hey, I still want to be at Ole Miss because this is where I got recruited.'”
Enter new head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and a restart for Reid and the entire program.
“We built a relationship with the new coaching staff, and I understood they had my back,” Reid said. “Being a point guard under Coach Yo is really big. She expects a lot out of you because she was a point guard herself.
Mimi is what an Ole Miss student should be. A loving, motivated and absolute team player who will leave Oxford and be a vital asset to whatever community she touches next.”
Yolett McPhee-McCuin
“On top of that, she’s big on leadership, and leadership comes from your point guard.”
Her head coach believes in Reid and what is ahead for her.
“Mimi is what an Ole Miss student should be,” said McPhee-McCuin, who just completed her fourth season leading the program. “A loving, motivated and absolute team player who will leave Oxford and be a vital asset to whatever community she touches next.”
The program was winless in the SEC just two seasons ago but made the finals of the WNIT in 2020-21. Then came the season to remember in 2021-22.
“We became the Ole Miss team that everybody had been waiting on,” Reid said. “We finished top four in the conference. Nobody expected us to do that. We beat Florida, Kentucky, and we got ranked.
“That was when everybody started paying attention to Ole Miss. It was huge for us to have the season that we had.”
Now she heads to St. John’s University back home in New York for her final season of college basketball. It’s where not only was she raised, but also was surrounded by life-altering moments, even at a young age.
“My mom and dad were actually first responders on 9/11,” she said. “I was a baby, and I actually went to the day care at the medical examiner’s office where they worked. That was in the Bronx. My dad was the chief, and my mom worked there.
“My dad usually went to the fields and brought the bodies back. My mom did autopsies. But (on 9/11) they said, ‘We need y’all here (at the World Trade Center).’ They were there, picking up bodies, bringing in bodies. I was in the day care.”
As a small child, Reid didn’t understand the mental strain those events caused her parents, but she became aware of it as she grew up, she said.
“My dad continued to work there (in the Bronx), and I would go to work with him all the time,” she said. “His co-workers would come to my basketball games. But my mom left that job because it was just mentally taxing.
“So I was geared in that direction, just because of them, that I would take something like law enforcement and work my way up to federal.”
Sadly, Reid’s father died during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was away from home, having chosen Ole Miss to become more independent, and that was a difficult time.
“I was sheltered a lot at home and for the right reasons, because of what was going on in my neighborhood,” she said. “At any moment, you can go down a wrong path. My mom kept me pretty close to her hip (growing up). My mom kept me focused and was heavily involved in everything I did.
“I found myself almost being dependent in a sense. Like, ‘I can’t do this without my mom.’ I knew there was no way I could go to college that way. I really wanted to challenge myself.”
In that challenge to herself, Reid decided to attend high school in New Jersey for her senior year.
“That was my test trial,” said Reid. “I was like, ‘I can do this.’ I thought it was time for me to spread my wings and go somewhere.”
She admits that a few other times were difficult, with her being away from home.
“I don’t know what it was, but I got out of practice one day (during the 2020-21 season) and I was like, ‘I’ve got to go.’ I hit a wall and I was literally like ‘No, I can’t do this. I can’t go on.’ But I called (UM assistant) Coach Chris (Ayers). Coach Chris, that’s my main man.
“I’m on the phone telling him, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t do this.’ And of course, he listened. He was like, ‘I understand, but you’ve gotta keep going. You’ve made it this far; why would you give up now?'”
That conversation became a turning point for Reid, and she didn’t think about going home again until after graduation.
But now she will return to the city where she spent her childhood. While leaving Oxford and the university is difficult in some ways, she is looking forward to what her future will bring.
“Next year will be all about my family,” Reid said. “They haven’t been able to have me physically there for five years. With everything we’ve been through, I felt like it was time to go back home, go back to the roots and play there my last year.
“I will be in the DPS, a Doctorate in Professional Studies, for Homeland Security Program. I will have a year-and-a-half in that program at St. John’s. It’s typically two years, but so many classes I took (at UM) for my master’s are literally the same classes.”
Reid was involved in other activities besides basketball and academics. The summer after her redshirt freshman year, she interned with the Oxford Police Department.
“I did canine training. Self-defense class,” she said. “I made a lot of connections there.”
She served on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee at Ole Miss and was a member of the SEC Leadership Council. She joined Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. in the fall of 2021.
Reid said her time at Ole Miss – her journey to two Commencements – has been important. As she leaves, it continues to be about the people along the way for her, especially the ones who battled beside her on the basketball court.
“Ole Miss has definitely been the place for me,” she said. “I’ve grown up. I’ve been through a lot. It was meant for me to be here, and it was meant for me to stay. Ole Miss has presented opportunities for me time and time again.
“The people are amazing here, from academic support to coaching staff to the fanbase and the community. They really have been there, and I gave everything I have for them.
“When I tell you we were close, we were close. We all played for each other out there. The relationships that we’ve built; they are everlasting.”
By Jeff Roberson, Ole Miss Athletics
