Cheryl Reeve Wins Record Fifth WNBA Coach of the Year Award

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was named the 2026 WNBA Coach of the Year on Monday, the WNBA announced. The selection is her fifth, and no other coach in league history has won the award more than three times.

Reeve also won in 2011, 2016, 2020, and 2024. According to the league, five selections are the most for any coach in major American professional sports history.

A national panel of 74 sportswriters and broadcasters voted. Reeve received 40 votes. Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, last year's winner, finished second with 20, and Washington Mystics coach Sydney Johnson was third with 14.

In their second season, the Valkyries went 32-12, took the No. 2 seed, and allowed a league-low 75.1 points per game. Washington improved from 16-28 to 28-16 in Johnson's second season after opening the year as the youngest team in league history.

Minnesota finished 33-11, the best record in the league, and is the No. 1 seed for the second straight year. This is Reeve's 17th season as the Lynx's coach.

After a 2-2 start, the Lynx won 20 of their next 24 games and reached the All-Star break at 22-6. Reeve was named the WNBA Coach of the Month for June. In July, she coached in the WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago, her sixth time as an All-Star head coach.

Minnesota won nine of its first 10 games after the break. It had lost four of five before beating the Indiana Fever 86-66 at home in the regular-season finale on Sept. 24.

On June 28, an 85-77 win at the Dallas Wings tied Reeve with Mike Thibault for the most regular-season wins by a coach in WNBA history. The Lynx lost their next two games, the first time that season they had dropped back-to-back games.

The record fell July 8 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, where Minnesota beat the Connecticut Sun 86-80. It was Reeve's 380th regular-season win, one more than Thibault, whose son, Eric Thibault, is the Lynx's associate head coach.

"[I] learned a lot from Mike through the years," Reeve said after the game, according to The Associated Press. "I know he's happy for me. And somebody's going to pass me and I'll be happy for them, too."

Reeve finished the regular season with 397 career regular-season wins. She passed Thibault for the most combined regular-season and playoff wins on Sept. 14, 2025, with her 414th.

Hired by Minnesota in 2010, Reeve has coached the franchise to all four of its WNBA championships. The Houston Comets and Seattle Storm also have four, the most in league history.

The Lynx opened their pursuit of a fifth on Sunday with a 91-75 loss to the eighth-seeded New York Liberty at Target Center in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round series. The series is a rematch of the 2024 Finals, which New York won in five games.

Breanna Stewart had 34 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists for New York. She shot 11-of-18 from the field with Napheesa Collier, her former UConn teammate, guarding her for most of the afternoon, according to the AP. The Liberty went 13-of-25 from 3-point range.

Reeve said Minnesota's fouls came at the end of the shot clock.

"We did a solid job in the first half and then we just fouled, fouled, fouled," Reeve explained, according to The Associated Press. "We can't give her 12 free throws. Fouling at the end of the shot clock is just not smart."

Kayla McBride scored 14 points for Minnesota after missing her first five 3-point attempts. Liberty center Jonquel Jones, who tweaked her ankle late in New York's Sept. 23 loss to Atlanta, played through the injury and finished with 8 points.

New York won the regular-season series 2-1, beating Minnesota 99-86 on July 3 and 93-81 on Sept. 18. The Lynx won 90-85 on July 11.

Game 2 is Tuesday, Sept. 29, in New York at 8:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. If the Lynx win, Game 3 would be Thursday, Oct. 1, in Minneapolis.