July 8, 2026, Uncasville, Connecticut. The Lynx beat the Sun 86 to 80, and Cheryl Reeve had regular-season win No. 380. One more than Mike Thibault. No coach in WNBA history had ever won more. Her first reaction was not a speech. It was relief.
"I am so glad this is over."
Cheryl Reeve, after setting the WNBA record for regular-season coaching wins, July 8, 2026, as reported by the Associated Press
Then she gave the man she passed his due.
"I know he's happy for me. And somebody's going to pass me and I'll be happy for them, too."
Cheryl Reeve, on Mike Thibault, July 8, 2026, as reported by the Associated Press
The record is only half of her job. She also builds the roster she coaches. And her road to both started with a team that stopped existing.
Cleveland
In 2003, Reeve joined Dan Hughes' coaching staff with the Cleveland Rockers as an assistant. On September 19, 2003, after that one season, the Cavaliers, who ran the team, shut the Rockers down. The players were split up in a dispersal draft in January 2004. The job was gone, and Reeve went back to Charlotte, still an assistant.
Twenty-three years later, she is the winningest coach in the history of the league, and she runs the front office too.
Air Force kid
She was born on September 20, 1966, in Omaha, Nebraska, into an Air Force family that moved around before finally settling in Washington Township, in South Jersey, when she was a teenager. By the time she graduated from Washington Township High School in 1984, she was a 1,000-point scorer.
She went to La Salle and started in the backcourt for four years. She still holds the school record with 110 games started. She earned a degree in computer science and management information systems, then stayed two more years as an assistant coach and earned her MBA.
From there it was five years as an assistant at George Washington, then her first head coaching job, at Indiana State, in 1995. In 1999 she took the Sycamores to their first postseason in 20 years. In 2001 she moved to the WNBA as an assistant with the Charlotte Sting, and that first year Charlotte made the WNBA Finals.
The long way
After Cleveland folded, she spent years on other people's benches. Charlotte again in 2004 and 2005. Then Detroit from 2006 to 2009, under Bill Laimbeer, where she won two championships as an assistant, in 2006 and 2008. Detroit also gave her a first taste of the other chair: director of player personnel in 2008, then general manager three games into the 2009 season.
On December 8, 2009, the Minnesota Lynx named her head coach. Her first WNBA team of her own. She won the title in 2011, the first in franchise history, and then three more, in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
On December 28, 2017, the Lynx made her general manager too, and in 2022 president of basketball operations. In 2024 she took the U.S. women's team to Paris and won gold, 67 to 66 over France in the final, the country's eighth straight Olympic title.
Both jobs, one season
Watch how 2026 came together. Reeve the executive drafted Olivia Miles with the No. 2 pick and signed veteran forward Natasha Howard. Then Reeve the coach went to work. Miles was the unanimous Rookie of the Year and broke the league's rookie scoring record with 790 points. Howard started all 44 games and was voted an All-Star starter. The Lynx went 33-11, took the No. 1 seed, and set a WNBA record with 18 road wins.
The July 8 win in Connecticut made her the all-time leader. She finished the regular season with 397.
"397"
Regular-season wins, the most in WNBA history
Then came the hardware. Her record fifth Coach of the Year award. Her third Executive of the Year award, tying Dan Padover for the most ever. Only one other person had won both in the same season, Curt Miller with Connecticut in 2017. Reeve did it in 2024, and now she has done it twice. She also goes into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2026.
One more hump
The season did not end the way the regular season promised. The No. 8 seed New York Liberty swept the top-seeded Lynx in the first round, finishing it 87 to 71 on September 29. It was the first time in WNBA history a No. 1 seed lost to a No. 8.
Two days later, at the season-ending press conference, Reeve did not lower the bar. The Lynx have four titles. She wants them to be the first franchise with five.
The assistant whose team folded in 2003 now runs the bench and the building in Minnesota. She has already said what she is building toward.
GAMECHANGER™"We're going to work tirelessly and endlessly to make that happen."
Cheryl Reeve, on chasing a fifth Lynx championship, October 1, 2026, as reported by FOX 9
Reporting draws on the WNBA (October 2026), the Minnesota Lynx, the Associated Press, FOX 9, MPR News, NJ Sports, the NJSIAA, La Salle Athletics, Case Western Reserve University's Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Basketball Reference and NBC New York.
Sources (13)
Associated Press via NBC Sports Bay Area: Reeve sets WNBA record for regular-season wins · TSN: Reeve breaks WNBA record for coaching wins as Lynx beat Sun · Minnesota Lynx: Cheryl Reeve biography · Basketball Reference: Cleveland Rockers coaches · Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Cleveland Rockers · NJ Sports: Cheryl Reeve · NJSIAA: Trailblazer feature, Cheryl Reeve · La Salle Athletics: Hall of Athletes, Cheryl Reeve · MPR News: Lynx give Reeve contract extension and GM duties · NBC New York: U.S. women win eighth straight Olympic basketball gold over France · WNBA: Reeve wins third Basketball Executive of the Year award · MPR News: Lynx lose to Liberty, eliminated from WNBA playoffs · FOX 9: Reeve says Lynx will work tirelessly for a fifth title