Margaret Mary Dixon (May 9, 1977 – April 6, 2006) was an American collegiate women's basketball coach.

Life

Dixon was born in

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

, 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. She served as team captain her senior year, and was voted as the "Most Improved Player". After an unsuccessful tryout for the WNBA

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

, she took up coaching, at the urging of her older brother. After one season as director of operations, Dixon was an assistant coach at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

from 2001 to 2005 under

Doug Bruno Richard Douglas Bruno (born November 7, 1950) is the head coach of the DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball team. In 2016, he completed his 30th season as head coach. Under his tenure, the Blue Demons have qualified for post-season competition p ...

. 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 The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

. 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 The 2006 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was held from March 18 to April 4, 2006, at several sites, with the championship game held in Boston. The Maryland Terrapins, coached by Brenda Frese, won their first National Championship, ...

as a 15 seed, where they lost to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

, 102–54. It was the first NCAA tournament appearance for any Army basketball team. Her brother is

Jamie Dixon James Patrick Dixon II (born November 10, 1965) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's team, where he played college ball. He previously served as the head coach of the University of Pittsbu ...

, the head men's basketball coach at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

. 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 The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

also made the

2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2006 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005–06 basketball seaso ...

. Her brother lost in the second round to

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

Death

After her team lost their first round game, Dixon attended the men's Final Four in Indianapolis, then flew to the women's Final Four in Boston. She attended a Nike party in Boston on Monday, April 3 with a number of other coaches, including

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Connecticut Huskies women's basketball, Huskies women's basketball team. , he has le ...

, and WBCA president

. The following day, Dixon returned to West Point, where she watched the women's final game with her brother. The following day, she collapsed and was rushed to the base hospital. She was next airlifted to

Westchester Medical Center Westchester Medical Center University Hospital (WMC), formerly Grasslands Hospital, is an 895-bed Regional Trauma Center providing health services to residents of the Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey, and southern Connecticut. It is known for h ...

in nearby Valhalla, New York. Doug Bruno changed his flight plans to fly to New York to see his former assistant. She was still alive when Bruno arrived, but she died the following day from what her brother described as an "arrhythmic episode to her heart." Dixon died 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.

Tributes

Dixon was buried at the

West Point Cemetery West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery in the eastern United States, on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Revolutionary War soldiers and ear ...

, an honor usually reserved only for high-ranking officials.

Maggie Dixon Classic

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 West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

and in the women's game the Army women's team lost to

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. The games were televised by ESPNU. The Maggie Dixon Classic also incorporates fundraising for heart arrythmia research and a Health Fair featuring information booths and free screenings. In the 2007–2008 season the Classic moved to Madison Square Garden and featured the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

women's team against Duke University and Army against the

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

. The third Maggie Dixon Classic was again played at MSG and featured the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's foo ...

and

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

along with an RU/Army Rematch. The presence of UConn helped draw upwards of 10,000 fans. The 2009 Maggie Dixon Classic featured games between Baylor and Boston College and between perennial women's basketball powerhouses

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. The 2010 Maggie Dixon Classic pitted the Rutgers Scarlet Knights against the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname " Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Agg ...

, and the Connecticut Huskies against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Maggie Dixon Surf 'N Slam Classic is played at Dixon's alma mater, University of San Diego, and has featured such schools as Boston College, DePaul, University of Texas, and University of California in recent years. The University of San Diego Toreros won the tournament in 2008 and 2009. Jamie Dixon and family accepting a check

Jamie Dixon and family accepting a check

Maggie Dixon Award

In tribute to Maggie's amazing rookie turnaround at Army before her death the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced the creation of the Maggie Dixon Award for the 2006-2007 season. The award is a "rookie of the year" award for the best coach in their first year as a Division 1 head coach. The inaugural award was given to Krista Kilburn-Steveskey of Hofstra University and the 2007–2008 award was given to Jeff Walz of the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

. The 2008-2009 recipient was Kelly Packard of Ball State University. The 2009-2010 season clarified the award by excluding former professional coaches moving to D1 (two early candidates were Men's coaching great and WNBA champion

Paul Westhead Paul William Westhead (born February 21, 1939) is an American Retired basketball coach. He was the head coach for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and an assistant for four others, and also coached in the National Collegiate Athl ...

at Oregon and 2 time WNBA champion

Michael Cooper Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Culver City High School. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning ...

at USC). The award went to playing great

Teresa Weatherspoon Teresa Gaye Weatherspoon (born December 8, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). She played for the New York L ...

despite her coaching several games for

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

in 2009 as an interim head coach. She won the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

tournament returning the Lady Techsters to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five seasons.

Head coaching record

Notes

External links

Associated Press, ESPN.com – Autopsy shows Dixon had enlarged heartAdrian Wojnarowski, ESPN.com – Army coach is just like her team: tough when it countsAdrian Wojnarowski, ESPN.com – Dixon's death cuts short a championship-caliber life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Maggie 1977 births 2006 deaths American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Army Black Knights women's basketball coaches DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball coaches San Diego Toreros women's basketball players Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, California) alumni People from North Hollywood, Los Angeles Basketball players from California Burials at West Point Cemetery Forwards (basketball) Guards (basketball) 20th-century American women 20th-century American people