Former Lady Lion standout Suzie McConnell Serio has been named the 2004 WNBA Coach of Year. In her second season as head coach of the Minnesota Lynx, McConnell Serio is Minnesota's first Coach of the Year award winner. McConnell-Serio is a former standout at Penn State University, where she set the NCAA record for assists (1,307). McConnell played for Penn State from 1985-1988 and won a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics playing for Team USA. The 5-4 point guard still owns the top mark in the Penn State record book for assists, steala and double-double performances.

McConnell Serio received 15 of a possible 48 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to win the 2004 Coach of the Year award. She won the award by the closest margin in the history of the award, as she received one more vote than runner-up Mike Thibault (14), head coach of the Connecticut Sun.

In the 2004 regular season, McConnell Serio guided the Lynx to their second consecutive WNBA Playoffs appearance and a franchise-best No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with an 18-16 record.

Before joining the Lynx, McConnell Serio served as head coach of Oakland Catholic High School (Pittsburgh, Pa.) for 13 years.