Maggie Dixon
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| Maggie Dixon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Title | Head coach | |
| College | Army | |
| Sport | Basketball | |
| Born | May 9, 1977 | |
| Place of birth |  North Hollywood, California |
|
| Died | April 6, 2006 (aged 28) | |
| Place of death | Valhalla, New York |
|
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 20-11 (.645) | |
| Championships | ||
| Patriot League Tournament Championship (2006) | ||
| Playing career | ||
| 1995–1999 | San Diego | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 2001–2005 2005–2006 |
DePaul (asst.) Army |
|
Margaret Mary "Maggie" Dixon (May 9, 1977 – April 6, 2006) was an American collegiate women's basketball coach.
Maggie Dixon was born in North Hollywood, California, and played basketball at Notre Dame High School. Dixon graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in history from the University of San Diego, where she played for the women's basketball team. After an unsuccessful try out for the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks, she took up coaching, at the urging of her older brother. She became an assistant coach at DePaul University from 2001-2005.
In 2005, just 11 days before the 2005-2006 season, Dixon was hired as the women's basketball coach of the United States Military Academy. In her first year, they surprised the college basketball world by going 20-11 and winning the Patriot League conference tournament; she took them to 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament as a 15 seed, where they lost to the University of Tennessee, 102-54. It was the first March Madness tournament appearance for any Army basketball team.
Her brother is Jamie Dixon, the head men's basketball coach of the University of Pittsburgh. In 2006, the Dixons became the first brother-sister pair to take teams to the NCAA basketball tournaments the same year, as Jamie's Pittsburgh Panthers also made the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Her brother lost in the second round to Bradley.
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[edit] Death
Just weeks after her appearance in the tournament, on April 5, 2006, Dixon was hospitalized at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, after collapsing and suffering what her brother described as an "arrhythmic episode to her heart." Dixon died the next night at the age of only 28, a little over a month shy of her 29th birthday. An autopsy revealed that Dixon had an enlarged heart and had a problem with a heart valve.
[edit] Tributes
Dixon was buried at the West Point Cemetery, an honor usually reserved only for high ranking officials.
On November 12, 2006 West Point held the 1st Annual Maggie Dixon Classic, a basketball mini-tournament in Dixon's honor. It featured two games, a men's and women's game. In the men's game Jamie Dixon's Pitt Panthers defeated Western Michigan and in the women's game the Army women's team lost to Ohio State. The games were televised by ESPNU.
[edit] See also
- Jamie Dixon (born 1965), older brother and current coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers
[edit] External links
- Associated Press, ESPN.com – Autopsy shows Dixon had enlarged heart
- Andrew Lawrence, SI.com – Remembering Maggie
- Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN.com – Army coach is just like her team: tough when it counts
- Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN.com – Dixon's death cuts short a championship-caliber life
| Preceded by Sherri Abbey-Nowatzki |
Head Coach of the Army Black Knights women's basketball team 2005 |
Succeeded by Dave Magarity 2006-present |
