Program driven by consistency at the top
Schumacher-Cawley takes charge of team
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Katie Schumacher-Cawley knew she had to come back.
After finishing up her first year as head coach of Penn’s women’s volleyball team in 2017, SchumacherCawley was contacted by Russ Rose, her former college coach at Penn State during the late 1990s and early 2000s, with an intriguing offer: to be his assistant coach.
“When coach Rose called me to come back to Penn State, for me, I knew that was an opportunity that was never going to happen again,” Schumacher-Cawley told the PostGazette. “It was a no-brainer for me togo back to Penn State.”
Though Schumacher-Cawley had nine years of head coaching experience under her belt, she elected to make the roughly three-hour drive from Philadelphia to State College in the hopes of learning more about coaching from Rose, the winningest Division I women’s volleyball coach of all-time with more than 1,300 wins tohis name.
In 1999, Schumacher-Cawley helped Rose win the first of his seven national championships. When she returned to Happy Valley in 2018, Schumacher-Cawley sought to help Penn State’s program in a different capacity.
“To be with coach and to be on the other side of it with him was such a learning experience. It’s something that’s definitely molded me into I think being a better coach,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “His expectations for his assistant coaches were the same as the players. He expected to be the best and to recruit the best and to always be in the gym and be helping.”
A Chicago native like Rose, Schumacher-Cawley first got involved with Penn State’s program when she was a prep star at Mother McAuley High School. She played under thenPenn State assistant and current Yalehead coach Erin Appleman for a team USA squad, an “enjoyable” experience that opened her up to the idea of joining on with the Nittany Lions.
Both Schumacher-Cawley’s brother and father played football at Big Ten schools, Illinois and Michigan, respectively, so she knew she wanted to compete collegiately in the same conference. But after officially visiting both Michigan and Penn State, the decision of where to go to college became as obvious as the reasonbehind it.
“Coach Rose, for me, was the Xfactor,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I got along with him so well and maybe it was a little bit of that Chicago bond. I just liked how he was really straightforward and honest. Penn State was doing some great things in volleyball and I wanted to be a part of it and go somewhere that wasgoing to win.”
Theexpectations under Rose were to compete for Big Ten and national championships, both of which were accomplished during SchumacherCawley’s time as a Nittany Lion. But once her playing career finished up, Schumacher-Cawley returned to her homestate.
She first worked as a volunteer assistant at Illinois, then as a full-time assistantfor the University of Illinois beforebeing named the Flames’ head coachin 2009.
“I was gone for so long in terms of being away at school and all that,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “Having the opportunity to be back in Chicago to be with my family and coaching at UIC was a huge, huge learning experience for me.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better startin my coaching career.”
Once eight years with the Flames came and went, Schumacher-Cawley took a leap of faith to leave home once more and again move back to the Keystone State. Her quick oneyear stint leading Penn’s program in 2017 gave way to becoming an assistant under Rose at Penn State.
As an assistant, SchumacherCawley said “every day was a learning experience” under Rose. Simultaneously, she helped players like current junior libero Maddy Bilinovic navigate the beginnings of their college journeys.
“She’s always been super consistent with letting us know what she expects from us and making sure that we’re doing that and holding us accountable every day to be the player that we told her we want to be,” Bilinovic told the Post-Gazette.
But at the conclusion of the 2021 season, Rose decided 43 years of coaching was enough. SchumacherCawley was named the Nittany
Lions’ interim head coach on Dec. 23, and suddenly she was back in her old post, leading a program.
“I had no idea what was going to shake out,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I was truly happy that I had an opportunity to interview because college athletics is crazy, you never knowhow it’s going to pan out.”
Just under two weeks later, Schumacher-Cawley got the news she had hoped to receive.
“They let me know they were offering me the opportunity,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I was just so happy. I can’t really put it into words.”
Theteam learned who the Nittany Lions’ first new head coach since the 1970swould be over Zoom.
“Speaking for myself, I was ecstatic,” Bilinovic said. “I loved Katie as an assistant coach, so I knew I obviously would love her as a head coach.”
Once the excitement subsided, though, reality set in. In the current college athletics climate, players transferring away from the program is common practice. The Nittany Lions were no different, as seven players left, like AVCA All-American Kaitlyn Hord to a conference foe in Nebraska.
Schumacher-Cawley and her coaching staff quickly turned to the transfer portal themselves, bringing in seven players that included former Purdue middle blocker and junior Taylor Trammell.
Schumacher-Cawley reached out to Trammell and arranged a February visit for her, during which she went to practice, met the team and even got to go to a concert, one that Schumacher-Cawley attended herself with family members.
“They took me to see Billie Eilish. How can I say no to them?” Trammell told the Post-Gazette. “That was amazing. Coach Katie, she just pulled all the right strings to get me here for sure. I just fell in love with herand this team.
“Having coach Katie as a new coach here was one of the biggest factors for sure in my decision.”
With a fresh nucleus of players like Trammell complementing veterans like Bilinovic, Penn State jumped out to a stellar 11-0 start in its non-conference matches. The Nittany Lions have seen that mark slide to 13-2, since they’ve gone .500 in Big Ten play, but they’re still ranked No. 13in the country.
“I thought that we had a great start to this season. But, we also have to acknowledge the good that we’ve done and are closing that book and moving onto the next chapter, and that of course is the Big Ten,” Bilinovic said. “We learned pretty fast that the Big Ten is a brutal, brutal conference and that every night you’re going to have to give your all toget a win.”
Bilinovic said Rose has stopped by practice once or twice, but it’s clear that the 2022 Nittany Lions are Schumacher-Cawley’s team. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have the former coachin town.
“I talk to him pretty much every day and we have coffee all the time,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “He’s still in town, so we have coffee and we go through the match ... he keeps it in check for me and he’s always had great advice for me.”
But Rose has a winter home in Florida, and there have certainly already been moments where Schumacher-Cawley has had to trek forward without his direction. It’s the post-Russ Rose era now, and Schumacher-Cawley has earned this opportunity after years as a player, assistant and head coach.
Schumacher-Cawley isn’t looking to radically change what was already in place with the Nittany Lions’ women’s volleyball program.
“People are always asking about filling his shoes and I’m like, ‘Hey, there’s never going to be anyone that’s going to be able to do what he did or fill his shoes,’” SchumacherCawley said. “I’m just hoping not to screw it up and get this team back to winning some matches.”