\u201cI have a new hairdo this year,\u201d the coach joked of her short brown hair.<\/p>\n
The Chicago native and former Mother McAuley state champ has a different perspective too. How could she not?<\/p>\n
In September 2024, not long after the Nittany Lions opened their season, Schumacher-Cawley was diagnosed with breast cancer, beginning a medical ordeal that included six rounds of chemotherapy in the fall and winter, a double mastectomy in March, 15 rounds of radiation that ended in May and continued maintenance chemotherapy.<\/p>\n
In December, in the middle of treatments, she led Penn State to the national championship<\/a>, becoming the first female coach<\/a> to win an NCAA Division I women\u2019s volleyball title. Her story was featured last month on the ESPYs when she was given the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.<\/p>\n Schumacher-Cawley worked to exhaustion to make sure not much changed in the gym for her team throughout her fight, with the help of her coaching staff, and she said she maintains the same high standards, the same accountability heading into the 2025 season.<\/p>\n But she also hopes her players can see life through the altered lens that comes with taking on an opponent like cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cLife is so short and so precious \u2014 I don\u2019t take the little things for granted,\u201d Schumacher-Cawley, 45, told the Tribune. \u201cI hope that\u2019s something the players can start to do \u2026 really just sit back and be present and enjoy the people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n An exhausting juggle<\/p>\n Penn State was trailing Nebraska 2-0 in the national semifinal in Louisville when Schumacher-Cawley delivered a similar message to national freshman of the year Izzy Starck.<\/p>\n Starck was stressed out, as any player might be staring down elimination before reaching the ultimate goal, but her coach offered calming words.<\/p>\n \u201cJust relax and enjoy the moment and enjoy what\u2019s happening right now,\u201d Starck recalled Schumacher-Cawley saying. Penn State rallied to win the next three sets and advance to the title match.<\/p>\n For Schumacher-Cawley, the gym was her refuge over the last year, a place where she could feel free of the weight of her illness as she guided her team through practices and matches.<\/p>\n Penn State players were all in the film room during a September practice when Schumacher-Cawley delivered the news of her diagnosis. The players froze, filled with sadness, uncertainty and worry for their coach, libero Gillian Grimes said.<\/p>\n Schumacher-Cawley tried to answer any questions they had, but she also instructed them that it would be \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d \u2014 whether she had found the proper mindset for the challenge ahead or not.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if you really do, but it was just I was in the season and we had to go,\u201d Schumacher-Cawley said. \u201cWe had to continue life as normal. I think I did my best to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n The weeks ahead naturally were exhausting. Mentally, she struggled with the uncertainty of what was happening to her body. Physically, Schumacher-Cawley was determined to find the energy to juggle treatments and practices and matches.<\/p>\n Her mother, Cathy Schumacher, moved from her home in Chicago\u2019s Morgan Park\/Beverly neighborhood to stay with the family and help care for their three daughters. The coach and her husband, Mike Cawley, would travel to Philadelphia late the night before her chemotherapy treatments, go to early appointments and then make it back to State College that afternoon, Cathy said.<\/p>\n Schumacher-Cawley didn\u2019t want to miss anything with her team. In fact, it made her feel better to be with them.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were some days I was just so exhausted,\u201d Schumacher-Cawley said. \u201cBut I think the adrenaline and fire \u2014 how the team was, just high energy \u2014 you couldn\u2019t be not feeling great around them. They helped me more than they know.\u201d<\/p>\n Cathy, whose husband died of prostate cancer when he was 62 years old, remembers the All-American banquet in Louisville. The Nittany Lions had played the semifinal match until after midnight. The next day, Schumacher-Cawley returned after an hour at the banquet and had to lie down to rest, though she tried not to let anyone know, Cathy said.<\/p>\n \u201cToward the end, she would get pretty sick, but she would never show it, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Cathy said.<\/p>\n Grimes said Schumacher-Cawley was \u201cher true self every single day,\u201d so it was easy to forget the battle the coach was waging. The cap she wore on her bald head sometimes served as the players\u2019 only reminder.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was just so unselfish for the team,\u201d said Grimes, who is from Westchester and played at Nazareth. \u201cShe never missed practice. She was just so strong. And I think that kind of left a mark on our team \u2014 like that we have to be strong for her back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just knew that she has to fight for something way bigger than just a practice or a volleyball game. So we were kind of trying to take off the stress, whether that be everyone being 10% better at practice. So she doesn\u2019t have to have the stress of us losing focus during games.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Can you believe it?\u2019<\/p>\n The Schumacher family has lived a lot of great sports moments.<\/p>\n The late Jerry Schumacher Sr. won a Big Ten championship as a Michigan offensive lineman. Jerry Jr., a linebacker, won one with Illinois football in 2001. And Jerry Sr. and Cathy were both in Hawaii when Katie led Penn State to its first women\u2019s volleyball national championship as a player in 1999.<\/p>\n But nothing topped Dec. 22, 2024, when Penn State beat Louisville 3-1 for the national championship, Cathy said.<\/p>\n Cathy\u2019s three other children and their families \u2014 including her 16 grandchildren \u2014 all gathered together for the first time since Katie\u2019s diagnosis in Louisville. \u201cI don\u2019t think the hotel knew what hit them,\u201d Cathy said.<\/p>\n As Penn State pulled off a 25-23, 32-34, 25-20, 25-17 win, the Schumachers were in tears, turning to each other again and again and asking, \u201cCan you believe it?\u201d Schumacher-Cawley, who launched her career as the Illinois-Chicago head coach for eight seasons, became the first female coach to win a Division I national championship in the sport.<\/p>\n Schumacher-Cawley, surrounded by family and friends, didn\u2019t want the day to end. Cathy was overcome with joy and excitement, but also quietly felt relief for her daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, my God, I\u2019m so glad it\u2019s over,\u201d she thought. \u201cNow, let\u2019s just concentrate on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Cathy has never known her daughter to need the spotlight, so she has seen how the attention that followed \u2014 being held up as a role model for girls who want to both raise a family and coach, as an inspiration for those battling cancer \u2014 has been a bit overwhelming.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s honestly crazy,\u201d Grimes said. \u201cWe were sitting at dinner last week, just like, \u2018You\u2019re so famous.\u2019 People are coming up to her in the airport. Everyone knows who she is. But she\u2019s the most down-to-earth person too. So it\u2019s like, wow, she really does deserve (the attention) that she\u2019s getting.\u201d<\/p>\n Schumacher-Cawley\u2019s family and some players and staff attended the ESPYs, her daughters ecstatic to meet Simone Biles and some of the UConn basketball players. She crafted a speech to accept the Jimmy V Award<\/a> so filled with thank yous \u2014 to her family, staff, team, doctors and more \u2014 that show advisers suggested she stop adding names or viewers would stop listening.<\/p>\n Her family also attended a Cubs game Aug. 2 to watch Schumacher-Cawley throw a ceremonial first pitch. It was a joy considering she grew up going to games as the niece of the late Frank Maloney<\/a>, the longtime Cubs director of ticket operations.<\/p>\n \u201c(The attention) is a little overwhelming, but I\u2019m so grateful for the people that have rallied around not just me but the team itself,\u201d Schumacher-Cawley said. \u201cAnd just the love I felt has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Mother](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/CTC-L-Katie-Schumacher-012_232718734.jpg\")
Mother McAuley volleyball standout Katie Schumacher on Aug. 20, 1996. (Bob Fila\/Chicago Tribune)
\n![\"Mother](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/CTC-L-Katie-Schumacher-010_232718728.jpg\")
Mother McAuley volleyball player Katie Schumacher waits for a serve Sept. 9, 1994. (John Kringas\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Penn](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/CTC-BIG-TEN-VOLLEYBALL-42_231819176_4e67e6.jpg\")
Penn State volleyball player Gillian Grimes, left, stands with coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley as they chat with members of the media during Big Ten volleyball media days in the Big Ten Network studios on July 28, 2025, in River North. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Katie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025_ESPY_Awards_36560.jpg\")
Penn State volleyball coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley accepts the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the ESPY Awards on July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Mark J. Terrill\/AP)<\/p>\n