MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Lynx announced Thursday that they signed coach Cheryl Reeve to a multi-year contract extension. They did not disclose the terms of the deal.
The Lynx hired Reeve before the 2010 season; though the team went 13-21 and missed the playoffs in her first year, Reeve has led the WNBA's best team in the two most recent seasons. In 2011, her squad won the WNBA championship, and in October it lost in the Finals to the Indiana Fever.
"The decision (to hire Reeve) has paid off with Cheryl leading our team to back-to-back WNBA Finals appearances, including its first championship in 2011, and the best record in the league since being hired," Lynx executive vice president Roger Griffith said in a statement. "We are extremely happy to continue the relationship and look forward to even better things in the future."
Reeve got her start in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting as an assistant, and she went on to serve on three other WNBA staffs – Cleveland, Charlotte and Detroit – before landing her first head coaching job with the Lynx. While Reeve was in Detroit, the Shock won two championships.
Despite those 13 wins in 2010 with the Lynx, Reeve's record with the team over the past three seasons is the best of any WNBA team, thanks to league-best records in 2011 and 2012. The Lynx fell just two regular-season wins short of tying the record for the highest two-season win total in league history; the Los Angeles Sparks won 56 in 2000 and 2001 to the Lynx's 54. In addition, her .657 winning percentage is second-best in WNBA history behind Michael Cooper's .663 mark.
Reeve won the WNBA's Coach of the Year award in 2011, and she's quickly become one of the most respected in the league.
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