All-WNBA First Team honors, an Olympic Gold medal, first team All-America, all-time career assists leader and mother of four.

Suzie McConnell Serio has accomplished all that by the age of 36. Now add to the list the title of head coach of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.

After 13 years of coaching the Oakland Catholic girls' basketball team in Pittsburgh, the former Penn State point guard was contacted by Roger Griffith, the chief operating officer for the Lynx, about the position. On Jan. 21, McConnell Serio was named the third coach in the history of the Lynx, replacing Heidi VanDerveer.

A new challenge is nothing out of the ordinary for the Pittsburgh native, who at the age of 31 decided to get back into shape and play in the WNBA. Not to mention she juggled the WNBA around her high school team and her family.

"My free time away from the game is occupied by my four children," McConnell Serio said. "Those are the two big things in my life, family and basketball."

McConnell Serio's career at Penn State was nothing short of spectacular as she set numerous records, including points and steals for a season and a record for assists in a game (21) that may never be broken.

She describes Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland as a great friend and motivator. Portland believes the camp that her players participate in with younger players causes a lot of Lady Lions to fall in
love with coaching early on in their lives.

"I think having the experience of working camps at a young age definitely introduces you to coaching," McConnell Serio said. "You learn alot about teaching the game when you're at camp."

McConnell has honed her teaching game at the high school level and many would say the Lynx are taking a gamble by hiring McConnell Serio who is unproven at any other level. Her record at Oakland Catholic is a sparkling 305-67.

"It's a shock to me that I have the opportunity to coach in the WNBA," McConnell Serio said. "I thought if I left the high school level, I figured it would be for college."

The Lynx don't get WNBA coaching experience, but they do get a proven winner and leader in McConnell Serio. She hasn't lost at any level.

The team she took at Oakland Catholic, only existed for one year before she got there and she has turned them into perennial contenders. She reached four state finals with them, and won two championships.

As a player on the Cleveland Rockers, she was the acknowledged team leader and led them into the playoffs.

She is still the Rockers' all-time assist leader.

"In every one of these playing situations, Suzie has been recognized as a leader on the team that she's playing with," Griffith said.

The chance seemed too good to pass up, but the decision was very difficult. The Lynx wanted someone who would live in the community and that meant uprooting her family from Pittsburgh and moving to Minnesota. Pete Serio, her husband who also coaches girl's basketball at Mount Lebanon, has been very supportive and agreed with his wife that this was an opportunity they couldn't refuse.

For someone like McConnell Serio, whose life has been full of challenges and experiences, there is no reason to believe she won't succeed in Minnesota. The Lynx have yet to have a winning season in their four year history and have gone just 22-42 the last two seasons.

When taking over a dismal teamm most coaches don't try to be successful right away and look toward the long-term. Not McConnell-Serio, who says that her goal is turn the franchise around right away.

She said that her goal isn't success three years from now, but to be successful the first season with the players she has now.

"It's going to be a great challenge," McConnell Serio said. "One that I'm very excited about. To coach players at a professional level is the opportunity of a lifetime."

A lifetime that has been lived to the equivalent of five normal lifetimes.