Penn State's Katie Schumacher-Cawley perseveres through cancer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- At 12:56 a.m. Friday, minutes after Penn State pulled off a miraculous reverse sweep over No. 2 overall seed Nebraska in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament, head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley was nowhere to be found. Three of her star players, Jess Mruzik, Caroline Jurevicius and Gillian Grimes, made their way to the news conference podium with big grins plastered on their faces. Mruzik, a team captain, said Schumacher-Cawley was right behind them and would join them shortly.

For five minutes, everyone waited, peering at the door in the back.

Then, the 44-year-old Schumacher-Cawley sauntered into the room. She had thrown on a brand-new national championship finalist black pullover with a "PSU!" sticker slapped on the right side of her chest. She was wearing a black cloth cap that covered her head, from the nape of her neck to her forehead. It fit snugly. She touched her cap as she sat down.

She mumbled to her players that she needed to change her cap before heading to the news conference. Her players held her gaze. They've always been in sync, this group, but the unity has heightened this season.

"I'm tired," Schumacher-Cawley declared. "I don't know about you guys."

From 9:42 p.m. to 12:40 a.m. ET, which was way past her bedtime, Schumacher-Cawley stood by the court as her team saved two match points and pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in volleyball history.

For the next 20 minutes from the podium, Schumacher-Cawley's eyes brightened, and she sat up straighter every time somebody asked her about her players. When she was asked about herself, she deflected, and Mruzik intercepted with an, "I know Katie doesn't like talking about herself..."

Schumacher-Cawley has shared few details about this surreal season: In September, at the start of her third season as head coach at Penn State, after several hospital visits and tests, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. She shared her diagnosis on Instagram in October and asked for the attention to be kept on her team and the "incredible things they do." Schumacher-Cawley, who has three daughters in their teens and preteens, began treatment immediately.

She could have taken the year off. God knows her team would have understood. But that thought didn't even cross her mind.

"Being around this team and the staff is when I feel most normal," Schumacher-Cawley said the day before the national semifinal. "For me, being at practice and in the gym with them makes it a whole lot easier."

Schumacher-Cawley and the Nittany Lions program go way back. As a player, she helped Penn State win a national championship in 1999 and racked up more than 1,300 kills in her career. In 2022, after serving as the associate coach for four years, Schumacher-Cawley was promoted to head coach. She took over a program that had won seven national championships, including a four-peat from 2007 to 2010, under Russ Rose, her former coach. She led the Nittany Lions to the regional semis in each of her first two years.

But Penn State hadn't been to the championship match since it won the title in 2014. Schumacher-Cawley always had grand plans for the program and her players.

So even with the cancer diagnosis, even during her chemotherapy treatments, she showed up to the gym every day in her black cap. She didn't miss a practice.

"I'm going to be healthy, and I will get through this, and it's just part of my journey and my life right now," Schumacher-Cawley said.

Her courage made her team stronger. Her fight off the court gave them a reason to fight on it. If they took care of business on the court, she could sleep easier, they thought, and she could focus on getting better. At the beginning of the season, the team gathered for a meeting. It picked out its core values. The first one -- and the most important one that has guided the squad through this entire season -- Bigger than us.

"Sometimes we can get caught up in the moment -- we've been playing this sport for most of our lives, so it can seem like the most important thing in your life," Mruzik said. "But the way that Coach is able to come in and be the same every single day no matter what's going on puts so much into perspective for us because this really is just a sport. Obviously, we want to win, and that's what we're here for. But at the end of the day, it's just a game, and we don't have to take this too seriously because sometimes life outside of sports can be more challenging than what you're dealing with in volleyball."

The diagnosis has made Schumacher-Cawley be more intentional with her time. She enforced a no-phone policy for her team during every group meal. She wants her players to be present with each other. And, in turn, for her to listen to them asking their silly "what would you do if ..." questions and the cacophony that ensues during their innumerable games of Mafia.

So, in big moments, the Nittany Lions swung freely and played fearlessly. They lost just two matches in the regular season, to Pitt and Wisconsin. They beat Nebraska in four sets in their regular-season finale. Mruzik, an outside hitter, put up incredible numbers, her accuracy and angles boggling some of the best defensive players in the country. She was named an AVCA first-team All-American. Setter Izzy Starck posted 17 double-doubles this season, winning the AVCA Freshman of the Year award, a first for a setter from Penn State. Senior middle blocker Taylor Trammell rounded off the team by being one of the most efficient attackers in the country, hitting .441.

Through it all, Schumacher-Cawley stood on the sidelines, hands behind her back, a quiet force of confidence. If she was in pain, nobody knew.

"It's important to realize that this is the same Katie from last year and the year before this, cancer or not," Trammell said. "She still comes into that gym every day with the same fire and intensity."

How is that possible?

Perspective.

Every time Schumacher-Cawley walks into the hospital for her treatment, she passes a children's medical center across the street.

"People talk about inspiration and things like that. I'll tell you -- there's babies and younger kids that are really sick, that's my perspective," she said.

With that perspective, she flew to Louisville for the national semifinals with her husband, Mike Cawley, three children and her team. She showed up Thursday night to what would end up being Penn State's second straight five-setter in the NCAA tournament, after beating Creighton in the regional final. Like a brick, she stood courtside, yelling "Go Izzy," when Starck needed a jolt of energy, and whispering instructions in Mruzik's ears during timeouts.

When the Nittany Lions were down 2-0 against Nebraska and all looked lost, she huddled with her team, telling the players how proud she was of them. She told them to settle in, to be more confident.

The team looked inspired in the third set. If this was going to be their last set this season, the players were going to give it their all -- for Schumacher-Cawley. Their serving and passing improved. Defensively, they began picking up more balls. They won the third set. In the fourth, facing two match points, the Nittany Lions looked more fearless than ever. Mruzik got two kills, Grimes served an ace and Camryn Hannah slammed two kills to complete an incredible comeback and send the match to a fifth set.

Up 12-10 in the final set, Schumacher-Cawley called timeout and beckoned her players for a huddle. They formed a circle around her. When they broke the huddle, the Nittany Lions looked unstoppable. Their energy was palpable.

Minutes later, Hannah slammed a kill for the win. Schumacher-Cawley grinned from the sidelines. Her team ran onto the court and fell into a dogpile. Schumacher-Cawley stood by, taking a deep breath and soaking it all in.

On Sunday, Schumacher-Cawley will join Louisville's Dani Busboom Kelly for a historic match. Regardless of the outcome, a woman head coach will become an NCAA national champion for the first time.

"I cannot imagine going through a season going through chemotherapy and what that must have been like," Busboom Kelly said. "She hasn't missed a practice all year, and that makes it even more incredible to me that she's been able to do that."

After the win over Nebraska, Schumacher-Cawley put on a new top and changed her cap. She felt hot under her cap during the game, but she doesn't want to be seen in public without it. (Although her players say she looks pretty.) After arriving at the news conference a few minutes late, she kept the focus on her players.

But on volleyball's biggest stage, Mruzik made sure everyone knew Schumacher-Cawley is the source of their inspiration.

"We're obviously wanting to do this for her because she's been so amazing throughout this season," Mruzik said. "So I think just that gritty five-set win helped put another brick into that piece that we're trying to build this season."

After the season's final match, Schumacher-Cawley will return home. Her surgery is scheduled for the first week of January.

"I've said that every day, but I'm proud of their fight and the way that they stick together," Schumacher-Cawley said. "They find a way to win."

She stood and stepped away from the podium. She had another game to coach.