Cheryl Reeve will replace Dawn Staley as the new U.S. national women's basketball team head coach, where she previously served as an assistant coach. Reeve has 28 years of both collegiate and professional coaching experience and is the current head coach and general manager of the Minnesota Lynx.
Staley stepped down in August after maintaining her position as head coach since 2017. In her time, Staley boasted a 52-2 record and won seven gold medals at all levels of USA Basketball.
Reeve and the U.S. national team will have an opportunity to continue Staley's legacy during the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
(Photo: Ned Dishman / NBAE via Getty Images)
What makes Cheryl Reeve the right choice?
Chantel Jennings, women's basketball senior writer: There aren’t many folks in the women’s basketball world who are as highly regarded in terms of their ability to raise the potential of a group like Reeve.
And in this time in women’s basketball — when other countries seem to be gaining on the dominance of the US (as evidenced by some upsets during the Olympic friendlies and closer Olympic games) and the roster is going to soon turn over — Reeve has the right experience to continue to move the program forward and extend the dynasty.
Advertisement
What can we expect in this next Olympic cycle for Team USA?
Jennings: We’ll start getting some ideas about answers regarding that 2024 Olympic roster as early as next fall.
With the 2022 FIBA World Cup, we might be looking at a much younger Team USA roster depending on what the committee decides to do. Sue Bird has already announced that she wouldn’t play in another Olympics, so a World Cup also seems unlikely.
But can we expect other veterans on the team — Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles, Tina Charles — to appear in that World Cup if their spots on the 2024 Olympic roster seem less likely? And, will Napheesa Collier, who’s pregnant with her first child and set to deliver in May, be on that roster?
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57km9vcGplbnxzfJFqZmpqX2WEcK%2FHnqmypF2nsqbCxGarqGWSmnqvrcyem2amlax6tnnSZq6opZWjwG6uwKyinqySlrmtec2aq6Knnpa5bsDEmqRmoJWWsW6vzpqaoWWjpMKzr8Ro