Cheryl Reeve
Cheryl Reeve
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Cheryl Reeve

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Cheryl Reeve

Cheryl Ann Reeve (born September 20, 1966) is an American basketball head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. Reeve has coached the Lynx to four league championships. In WNBA history, she is first in career wins including regular season and postseason, is first in career regular season wins, and is first in career postseason wins as a coach. Reeve was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2011, 2016, 2020, and 2024 and WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year in 2019 and 2024. She is the first coach in WNBA history to be named Coach of the Year four times. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2026.

Cheryl Reeve was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 20, 1966. Reeve grew up in Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey and graduated from Washington Township High School in 1984, where she was part of the school's first team to make the state finals. In 1988, Reeve was a Rhodes Scholar nominee and received a MAAC Scholar-Athlete Post Graduate Award and an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship. She earned a bachelor's degree in computer science that year and then an MBA, both from La Salle University.

Reeve started out as assistant coach at her alma mater, La Salle for two years. She was then an assistant at George Washington for five years. The Colonials posted five 20-win seasons, captured three Atlantic 10 Conference Championships and appeared in four NCAA tournaments during Reeve's stint at George Washington. Her first head coaching position was with the Indiana State Sycamores from 1995 to December 1 of the 2000–2001 season (replaced by her assistant coach Jim Wiedie). She improved the team's record each year for the first four seasons, and led the squad to its first postseason berth in 20 years following the 1998–1999 campaign. She is tied with Kay Riek for 5th in Lady Sycamore Wins.

Reeve got her start in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting in 2001 when she joined Anne Donovan’s staff as an assistant. After posting an 8–24 record the year previous, Charlotte turned things around in Reeve’s first year by going 18–14 and advancing to the WNBA Finals. They followed in 2002, with another 18–14 mark and their second straight appearance in the postseason.

Following the 2002 campaign, Donovan left to become the head coach of the Seattle Storm, and Dan Hughes and the Cleveland Rockers hired Reeve away from Charlotte. The Rockers advanced to the playoffs that year, but in the offseason ownership decided to cease operation of the team making Reeve a coaching free agent. She rejoined the Sting staff for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Reeve then spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock, also serving as the team's last general manager before they moved to Tulsa.

Reeve was named the head coach of the Minnesota Lynx on December 8, 2009. In her first season, the Lynx went 13–21, missing the playoffs. The team was hampered by injuries to Candice Wiggins and Seimone Augustus. At one point, a frustrated Reeve said bluntly, "We are a bad basketball team. It starts at the top. I have not been able to get them to understand defensively what we need to get done and, clearly, our offense is one of the worst in the league."

The Lynx improved dramatically in 2011. With Wiggins and Augustus back healthy, and with the addition of rookie Maya Moore, the team got off to a quick start and did not falter throughout the regular season, finishing with a league-best 27–7 record. The dramatic turnaround earned Reeve the WNBA Coach of the Year Award in just her second year as a head coach at the professional level. The Lynx finished what they started, losing only one game in the playoffs en route to their first WNBA championship.

Reeve took her team back to the playoffs in her third year. The team qualified for the playoffs after just 21 games, the fastest in franchise history. Reeve became the winningest coach in Lynx franchise history on August 26, 2012, with a win over the Atlanta Dream. The Lynx went on to lose to the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Finals.

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