When it comes to the best coaches the WNBA has ever seen, Cheryl Reeve’s name should be right at the top of the list.
Reeve, in her 16th season as head coach of the Minnesota Lynx in 2025, already has an extensive — and impressive — resume. And she could continue to add to that when things are all said and done this season.
After coaching at the collegiate level from 1988-2000, Reeve jumped into the WNBA as an assistant coach in 2001 and was on staff for the Charlotte Sting (twice), Cleveland Rockers
and Detroit Shock. In 2010, she got her first WNBA head coaching job with the Lynx … and the rest is history.
Throughout her career as a coach, Reeve has recorded over 360 wins, just one of two coaches in history to surpass that milestone (Mike Thibault, 379 wins). Along the way, she has claimed four WNBA championships with the Lynx (two more as an assistant with the Shock) and is a four-time WNBA Coach of the Year (2011, 2016, 2020, 2024), two-time WNBA Executive of the Year (2019, 2024) and has coached the WNBA All-Star Game five times (2013, 2014, 2017, 2024, 2025). She also has also been either an assistant coach or head coach of three USA Basketball Olympic gold medal teams (2016, 2020, 2024) as well as the 2014, 2018 and 2022 FIBA World Cups and the 2019 FIBA AmeriCup.
Yeah, not too shabby.
Though she already has a lengthy resume, Reeve could continue to add to that this season. Not only with Minnesota’s ultimate goal of winning the WNBA title to mark the fifth title in franchise history, but with another Coach of the Year honor — something the Lynx players and coaches believe she is deserving of.
The Case for COTY
It’s not uncommon for the top teams in the league to be in the conversation for Coach of the Year, and that certainly plays a factor in Reeve’s case. But once again this year, Reeve has made the necessary adjustments — both in the offseason and during the regular season — to help Minnesota to where it is today with the best record in the WNBA.
First, the reigning Coach of the Year re-signed players such as Natisha Hiedeman and Jessica Shepard — both Sixth Player of the Year candidates — before the season. Then, added a player not many knew in Maria Kliundikova midseason, someone who has stepped up off the bench since her arrival. Later, she pulled off a trade for DiJonai Carrington to add the reigning Sixth Player of the Year to the fold on a team that was already the top team in the league and leaders in numerous statistical categories. It’s one thing to be part of the decisions to bring those players in, but it’s another thing to incorporate them together so well, something Reeve has done with flying colors.
Oh, and we haven’t even gotten to the part where the Lynx set a franchise record for wins in a season and are threatening the WNBA record of 34 wins set by Las Vegas in 2023.
“I think she has a great case,” Napheesa Collier said of Reeve and the Coach of the Year award. “The way that Cheryl, year after year, is able to put players together, put them in places to be successful and honestly out perform our metrics every single year, I think that is a huge testament to her coaching style. The way she’s able to make adjustments in-game, the way we’re able to pull out in a lot of close games — a lot of that comes down to coaching. I think without a doubt Cheryl should be Coach of the Year.”
Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase (-500) is currently the betting favorite to claim the award in Golden State’s first season as a franchise, but Reeve is second on the list at +650 followed by Phoenix head coach Nate Tibbetts at +1000 and Atlanta’s Karl Smesko at +1200.
“I feel like she should be Coach of the Year, we’re the number one team,” Courtney Williams said. Even what our team was able to do when (Collier) went down, that takes coaching. Right? That takes putting that belief in your players and letting them know that we’re going to be all right.“
Reeve won’t ever say that this award is something she is trying to accomplish or go after — in fact she said exactly that — but her players and assistant coaches think otherwise for one of the games all-time great.
“As a player, I knew the expectations and everything we put out on the court. But now being behind the scenes … there’s a reason she’s been so great, why she should be the Coach of the Year and why she’s been the Coach of the Year and has won so many championships,” said Lynx assistant coach Lindsay Whalen, who played under Reeve as a player. “It’s because of the attention to detail and how she prepares. That’s been really fun for me.”
The Reeve Way
Reeve has a unique ability to bring teams together, starting on the first day of training camp. She not only finds players that fit on the court, but focus on adding players to the roster who are fits personality-wise. Something Reeve and the Lynx always say is that they want players on the roster who are good people first and foremost.
That foundation is something Reeve has established ever since she arrived in Minnesota, and that culture is something that resonates with players. Many see the intense Reeve on the sidelines, but what many don’t see are the relationships she builds behind the scenes with her players — something that goes a long way with players past and present. That, in return, helps players feel comfortable where they are and boosts their play on the court at the end of the day.
“They say she has a hard shell, but she’s so soft on the inside especially when you get close to her,” Kayla McBride said. “When I signed here, she called my mom and dad and said that I was safe and she was going to take good care of me. Those things go along way with people like me.”
“It’s hard to put into words what Cheryl has meant to me, let alone this team,” McBride continued. “Her ability to bring people together and get us to play at a very, very high level. The accountability, I think it’s kind of like a lost art the way she coaches. She’s created this environment for us to flourish in. When you have a coach like that who cares about you on and off the court, you want to be able to give everything that you have.”
When it comes to the coaching side of things, Reeve’s in-game and in-season adjustments are unlike any other coach in the WNBA — and is perhaps one of the best at doing so that we’ve ever seen in the league. The way Reeve brings her players and team together as one is impressive and the way she prepares the Lynx for beyond the regular season often results in performances like we’ve seen from Minnesota so far in 2025.
“She’s been good for so long, it’s just become almost an expectation for her to do the best every year,” Alanna Smith said. “Even if she’s won Coach of the Year multiple times in a row, if she’s doing the same thing, she should get the same award. I’m just really grateful to be coached by someone like Cheryl.”
Yes, other coaches are also deserving of the Coach of the Year award. What Nakase has done in Golden State in its inaugural is impressive. What Tibbetts has done to lead Phoenix and Smesko has done in Atlanta in his first season shouldn’t go overlooked. But when it comes to Reeve, she absolutely deserves to be a serious candidate to take home the Coach of the Year award once again in 2025.
