The Hartford Courant
Maggie Dixon is smiling, arm raised, index finger pointed to the sky, engulfed in a sea of camouflage. The enduring image of Dixon will be that picture, swept up by a crowd of cadets after Army rallied from an 11-point second half deficit to a 69-68 victory over Holy Cross in the Patriot League championship game, earning the school's first NCAA Tournament bid.
But how to reconcile that image with her death, at age 28, Thursday? Dixon, the younger sister of Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, coach of the Panthers' men's team, died after suffering an “arrhythmic episode to her heart.” It was discovered in an autopsy Friday that she had an enlarged heart and a problem with her heart valve, according to the Westchester County Medical Examiner's office.
“I have that vision in my head of her being hoisted up by the cadets, just so happy,” said Holy Cross Coach Bill Gibbons said Saturday. “That's a night we'll always remember. That was just a great game, a great atmosphere, 1,600 cadets wearing full camouflage. Both teams played well. I got a lot of calls after that game from other coaches.”
So Gibbons was stunned when he heard the news Thursday. He had just talked to Dixon at the Final Four in Boston. They spoke about the conference championship game, the upcoming Patriot League meetings.
“I was just shocked and saddened,” he said. “The last six or seven months of her life were such a high and full of so much joy for her.”
Dixon, in her first head coaching job, led her team to a 20-11 record and was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year. She and Jamie were what was believed to be the first brother and sister duo coaching in the NCAA tournaments in the same year.
Army, a 15th seed, ended up facing No. 2 Tennessee in the first round in Norfolk, Va. The Black Knights lost 102-54 and got dunked on by Tennessee's Candace Parker. But that's not what people will remember about Dixon's Army team.
They will recall her being swarmed by cadets and cheering behind the Pitt bench for her brother's team. Maggie was 12 years younger than Jamie. She called him her hero.
During the women's tournament, the Times Herald-Record called her a “rock star,” because of all the interview requests she received, and described her as a “gum-chomping, mad sideline pacer in heels.” Gibbons said she was a natural coach and made a great hire in associate head coach Dave Magarity, a former long-time men's coach at Marist.
Dixon became a coach after being cut by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2000 after playing for the University of San Diego. She called her brother for advice and he told her to “do something drastic,” she recalled in an interview with SI.com earlier this year. So she went with a friend to Chicago and visited DePaul Coach Doug Bruno, who hired her first as a graduate assistant. Eventually, she worked her way up to becoming Bruno's top assistant.
Army came calling last fall; Dixon was hired 11 days before preseason practice started. She inherited a pretty good team that had finished third in the conference, but didn't have a lot of time to prepare.
“I knew she'd have success,” Jamie told SI.com. “I knew it was going to happen but obviously didn't know it would happen this quickly. The timing did not lend one to believe there would be immediate success the first year.”
Maggie believed she would be coaching for a long time and said as much. That's why the news of her death resonated through the women's basketball community so hard.
“I was looking forward to competing against her for years to come,” Gibbons said. “She really was a rising star.”
But how to reconcile that image with her death, at age 28, Thursday? Dixon, the younger sister of Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, coach of the Panthers' men's team, died after suffering an “arrhythmic episode to her heart.” It was discovered in an autopsy Friday that she had an enlarged heart and a problem with her heart valve, according to the Westchester County Medical Examiner's office.
“I have that vision in my head of her being hoisted up by the cadets, just so happy,” said Holy Cross Coach Bill Gibbons said Saturday. “That's a night we'll always remember. That was just a great game, a great atmosphere, 1,600 cadets wearing full camouflage. Both teams played well. I got a lot of calls after that game from other coaches.”
So Gibbons was stunned when he heard the news Thursday. He had just talked to Dixon at the Final Four in Boston. They spoke about the conference championship game, the upcoming Patriot League meetings.
“I was just shocked and saddened,” he said. “The last six or seven months of her life were such a high and full of so much joy for her.”
Dixon, in her first head coaching job, led her team to a 20-11 record and was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year. She and Jamie were what was believed to be the first brother and sister duo coaching in the NCAA tournaments in the same year.
Army, a 15th seed, ended up facing No. 2 Tennessee in the first round in Norfolk, Va. The Black Knights lost 102-54 and got dunked on by Tennessee's Candace Parker. But that's not what people will remember about Dixon's Army team.
They will recall her being swarmed by cadets and cheering behind the Pitt bench for her brother's team. Maggie was 12 years younger than Jamie. She called him her hero.
During the women's tournament, the Times Herald-Record called her a “rock star,” because of all the interview requests she received, and described her as a “gum-chomping, mad sideline pacer in heels.” Gibbons said she was a natural coach and made a great hire in associate head coach Dave Magarity, a former long-time men's coach at Marist.
Dixon became a coach after being cut by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2000 after playing for the University of San Diego. She called her brother for advice and he told her to “do something drastic,” she recalled in an interview with SI.com earlier this year. So she went with a friend to Chicago and visited DePaul Coach Doug Bruno, who hired her first as a graduate assistant. Eventually, she worked her way up to becoming Bruno's top assistant.
Army came calling last fall; Dixon was hired 11 days before preseason practice started. She inherited a pretty good team that had finished third in the conference, but didn't have a lot of time to prepare.
“I knew she'd have success,” Jamie told SI.com. “I knew it was going to happen but obviously didn't know it would happen this quickly. The timing did not lend one to believe there would be immediate success the first year.”
Maggie believed she would be coaching for a long time and said as much. That's why the news of her death resonated through the women's basketball community so hard.
“I was looking forward to competing against her for years to come,” Gibbons said. “She really was a rising star.”
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