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As March Madness comes to a close, we bring you the story of a coach who led her players to become the underdog Division III women's champions this season while facing one of life's biggest challenges. NPR's Jason Fuller has more.
JASON FULLER, BYLINE: For most head coaches, the recruiting trail is the key to everything. The summer of 2023, Denison University's women's basketball coach Maureen "Mo" Hirt was focused on building a roster of hungry and talented players.
MAUREEN HIRT: Everything was going well. I had, you know, a dry cough over the summer while I was recruiting and was a little tired, so I was drinking my Monster energy drinks.
FULLER: Something was off, though. Finally, on Halloween, she went to the hospital.
HIRT: So I got a chest X-ray that day and, you know, went back to school, you know, was preparing for a scrimmage the next day and then got a call from my doctor asking if I was sitting down and got the call that I had a mass in my chest. It started a whirlwind of a journey in terms of, had to go to the hospital the next day and was in the hospital for 18 days.
FULLER: Her players didn't know what was going on, but they knew it was serious. Their heart sank when they found out that Coach Mo was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of cancer.
ABBY COOCH: The one thing that we weren't worried about is the basketball aspect is more of the - her life and what's ahead for her future.
ADA TAUTE: I think it also taught us that we can't take the days we have for granted. You know, we have to stay present with sickness, with injury. We have to play with all of our heart with the given day, and I think we really showed that in this season.
FULLER: That's Abby Cooch and Ada Taute. Now juniors, both were incoming freshmen at the time. Their dedication was important, but Coach Mo was resolved not to let their college student athlete experience be drailed.
HIRT: Making it as normal as possible of an experience for them even though I had started chemotherapy right away. So it was treatments usually every few weeks, and they knock you out for a little bit, but it's possible, obviously, to coach through it.
FULLER: And coach, she did. She found ways to support herself when chemo made her immunocompromised.
HIRT: And I would have my stool because it was a little bit tough to stand for 2, 2 1/2 hour practice. So I would sit in my stool, have my whistle and try to instruct and coach as much as I can from the sidelines.
FULLER: Coach Mo's grit inspired the team that season. But Coach Mo wasn't in the clear. In April of 2024, she learned she'd only had partial success with chemo and needed more treatment.
HIRT: I had to go through what's called an autologous stem cell transplant, and it's kind of like a factory reset for your body.
FULLER: Later that year, Coach Mo did beat her cancer, but a Division III championship still eluded her. Those who covered the league, like d3sports.com journalist Gordon Mann, know it can be a big hill to climb.
GORDON MANN: There are about 450 schools in Division III. Denison didn't have a single Top 25 vote.
FULLER: Coach Mo and company didn't take it personally. They just took it out on their opponents, winning 17 games in a row. They rose to the No. 1 seed in their bracket and went all the way to the championship.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: But the Big Red realizes that they have just done something that no other team in Denison women's basketball history has done.
FULLER: That's the sound of the crowd cheering from the NCAA's YouTube channel.
HIRT: We didn't talk about, hey, we want to be in the Final Four; hey, we want to be national champions. We were saying more, we want to fight for another day together. It was a whirlwind of a journey, and it's been kind of a two-year process going through chemotherapy, radiation, stem cell transplants. But, you know, luckily, this season, I was on the other side of it.
FULLER: Gordon Mann says the Denison Big Red's culture of resilience and selflessness mirrors that of Coach Mo on and off the court.
MANN: This is the perfect Mo Hirt moment. I was leaving the room, and she said, hey, are you hungry? I have an extra sandwich. I'm not going to eat it. She doesn't know me from anybody. She could have given it to anybody. She is a very gracious, kind human being, and I think that translates down to the players.
FULLER: Coach Mo and players Abby Cooch and Ada Taute are in Phoenix this weekend supporting the teams in the Division I Women's Final Four and looking forward to their next season together. Jason Fuller, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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