Cheryl Reeve

Cheryl Reeve

Reeve coaching at the 2013 All Star Game
Minnesota Lynx
Position	Head coach, general manager
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	(1966-09-20) September 20, 1966 (age 51)
Nationality	American
Career information
High school	Washington Township (Sewell, New Jersey)
College	La Salle (1984–1988)
Coaching career	1988–present
Career history
1988–1990	La Salle (assistant)
1990–1995	George Washington (assistant)
1995–2000	Indiana State
2001–2002	Charlotte Sting (assistant)
2003	Cleveland Rockers (assistant)
2004–2005	Charlotte Sting (assistant)
2006–2009	Detroit Shock (assistant)
2010–present	Minnesota Lynx
Career highlights and awards
As head coach: 2× WNBA Coach of the Year (2011, 2016) 4× WNBA champion (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) WNBA All-Star Game coach 2013, 2014 As assistant coach: 2× WNBA champion (2006, 2008)

Cheryl Reeve is an American basketball head coach and general manager for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. She has coached the Lynx to four league championships. In WNBA history, she has the highest winning percentage, she won the most games of any female coach, and she won the most postseason games of any coach.^[1][2] Reeve was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2016.^[3]

Early life and education[edit]

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.^[4] In 1988, Reeve was a Rhodes Scholar nominee and received a MAAC Scholar-Athlete Post Graduate Award and a NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship. She earned a bachelors in computer science that year and then an MBA, both from La Salle University.^[5]

Coaching career[edit]

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 from 1995 to the middle of the 1999-2000 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.

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.

Minnesota Lynx[edit]

Reeve coaching the Lynx in 2011

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."^[6]

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.^[7][8] 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.^[9] The Lynx went on to lose to the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Finals.

In 2013, Reeve and her staff coached the WNBA Western Conference All-Star Team, as the Lynx had won the conference championship the previous year. Reeve's squad included four Lynx players -- Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson, and Lindsay Whalen. Reeve's team ended up winning the game, 102-98.^[10] Reeve's team then swept through the playoffs, going 7-0 en route to their second championship under her leadership.

Reeve is currently the winningest coach in franchise history, both in terms of the number of won games and winning percentage, and by percentage the winningest coach in WNBA history. She won her 100th regular season game on June 2, 2014, in a victory over the San Antonio Stars. She won her 31st postseason game on September 30, 2016, in a semi-final victory over the Phoenix Mercury, to move into first place in WNBA history in playoff wins.^{[citation needed]}

Reeve was named the WNBA coach of the year by a panel of media representatives in 2016.^[11]

Personal life[edit]

Reeve is married to singer and Lynx vice president Carley Knox. They have one child, Oliver, who Knox said has seen every Lynx home game since he was born.^[12]

Gallery[edit]

Coaching record[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• WNBA profile