NEW YORK – Cheryl Reeve knows how to win better than anyone in the WNBA.
He showed up big on Wednesday night as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun on the road 86-80, making him the winningest coach in WNBA history. Reeve, who already owns the WNBA wins record, tied Mike Thibault (379-289) for the WNBA record for most wins in a regular season with the Lynx’s win over the Dallas Wings on June 28.
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His victory for 380 years separates him from the top of the mountain.
“I’m so glad this is over,” Reeve said on the post-match radio.
“I learned a lot from Mike over the years,” he added. “He’s a very good coach. We had a lot of respect for each other over the years. I know he’s happy for me. And someone will pass me and I’ll be happy for them.”
This season’s 16-6 record is a testament to his coaching ability.
Reeve, a four-time WNBA champion, has missed the playoffs just twice in her 17 years as Lynx coach – her first season in 2010 and 2022. Although the Lynx were expected to have a down year entering 2026, Reeve’s progress makes it hard to doubt him.
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The Lynx, after all, lost two key contributors in Alanna Smith – Co-Defensive Player of the Year 2025 – and forward Jessica Shepard, both of whom signed with the Dallas Wings as unrestricted free agents. Reeve ran for 11-time All-Star and 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike and scored. And while he re-signed his second and third leading scorers in Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride, respectively, legitimate questions have lingered about what the Lynx will look like without MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, sidelined after offseason surgery on both ankles.
Yet where many saw question marks, Reeve had answers.
Brought back Natasha Howard, the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, and signed 10-year WNBA journeyman Nia Coffey, signing both to two-year deals. Reeve’s biggest coup, however, was his 2024 draft day trade with the Chicago Sky, which translated into the No. 1 overall pick. 2 in the 2026 draft, which he used to select Olivia Miles.
McBride led Wednesday with 23 points. Williams and Howard added 12 apiece and Dorka Juhász added 12 off the bench in her second game back with the Lynx after suffering a right foot injury in April.
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About halfway through the season, the Lynx are 1st in the league with the best net rating (11.8) — even without their MVP-caliber franchise player.
On June 27, Reeve was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
“He’s smart at what he does,” Miles, who sat out his second straight game with a right hamstring injury, said of Reeve on Friday. “She understands how to use players to their strengths. She sees (Howard) playing out of his mind. Everyone thought he was done. He’s playing the best basketball of his career. It’s things like that that Cheryl sees in players and she allows people to develop their full potential.”
The four-time Coach of the Year was hired by the Lynx in 2010 after eight seasons as a WNBA assistant, including the last four seasons with the Detroit Shock (2006-2009) where she made three WNBA Finals appearances and won two titles.
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In 2017, he added the role of general manager to his plate, and in 2022, he was promoted to president of Lynx basketball operations. He is the last two remaining head coach and general manager in the WNBA, which makes his accomplishments even more impressive.
Between 2011 and 2017, she cemented the Lynx as a dynasty in the WNBA, winning four titles and appearing in six finals during that time. Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen, two standouts in the Lynx’s championship quartet, now share the sideline with Reeve as assistants.
Brunson, who joined Reeve’s staff in 2020 after officially retiring that February, has been a part of all but 18 of Reeve’s wins. Whalen matched Reeve’s 247 regular-season wins after retiring in 2018 and joining the Lynx coaching staff in 2025. Eric Thibault was another addition to Reeve’s staff last year.
Thibault drafted Whalen to the Connecticut Sun with the fourth overall pick in the 2004 draft. He played six seasons for Thibault before being traded to the Lynx in 2010. He spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach in his father Mike Thibault’s Washington career.
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“Lindsay is responsible for all of my victories and my son has been a part of a lot of them,” said Mike Thibault. “I kept insulting him for helping him break my record.”
The elder Thibault spent 13 of his 20 seasons competing against Reeve.
In Reeve’s debut as head coach, the two began a preseason tradition of practicing together one day before their teams played each other in an exhibition game. In 2024, they won an Olympic gold medal together at the Paris Summer Games, Reeve as head coach and Thibault as assistant.
In his final season before retiring in the fall of 2022, he earned his 273rd victory in what would be his final meeting against Reeve and the Lynx.
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“If anyone is going to break us down, I’m glad it’s him,” said Thibault Athletic. “I think it will last a long time as well, because we have many young coaches in the league who have a waist left.”
This article first appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, WNBA
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