Cheryl Reeve did not hold back when describing the vibe after she became the winningest coach in WNBA history. The Minnesota Lynx head coach picked up career win No. 380 last week when her team beat the Connecticut Sun 86-80, snapping a two-game losing streak. But the postgame celebration? That part she remembered pretty clearly.
“It was lit,” Reeve told reporters, via Madeline Kenney of the New York Post. “I ate all the way down.”
That line got laughs. But the achievement behind it is real. Reeve now owns the WNBA regular-season wins record. She also holds the all-time lead in playoff wins. The previous record holder was Mike Thibault at 379. Bill Laimbeer sits at third with 316. The next active coach on the list is the Toronto Tempo’s Sandy Brondello at 278 wins, good for fourth place.
Reeve didn’t have much time to sit on the milestone either. Right around when she broke the record, she got named as a head coach for the All-Star Game alongside the Aces’ Becky Hammon. So the Lynx coach had a little extra on her plate before Minnesota hosted the New York Liberty on Saturday.
How Reeve built a Hall of Fame resume
Her coaching career in the WNBA started in 2001 as an assistant with the Charlotte Sting. She bounced around after that — stints as an assistant in Cleveland and Detroit — before the Lynx gave her the head job ahead of the 2010 season. That turned out to be the kind of hire that changes a franchise.
Since then, Reeve has gone 380-196 overall. Four championships: 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. And she coached some of the best to ever do it: Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus and Rebekkah Brunson, among others. That’s a lot of talent in one locker room over the years.
Now she’s standing alone at the top of the wins list. And if the postgame spread was any indication, she earned it.
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