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CoSIDA.com/CoSIDA360 Magazine Archive
Note: This story appeared in the Spring 2020 May edition of CoSIDA 360 Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.
Tough With T
When a relationship based on trust goes beyond basketball.
by Olivia Coiro – Syracuse University, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
On June 14, 2019, I returned home from my seventh CoSIDA Convention. I was refreshed and excited for the upcoming academic year after spending a week learning from my peers in communications. I stopped by the office for a few hours to drop some things off on the Friday after I returned and saw the point guard on the women’s basketball team on my way in. She asked if I would be in the office for a bit as she had something to tell me. This was standard procedure for us as we spoke almost daily about several things. Little did I know that when she stopped by a half hour later, my world would change forever.
• • •
When I accepted my current position in December 2017, I knew it would be a challenge to start a new job in the middle of basketball season but was up for the challenge because working with Coach (Quentin) Hillsman and the Syracuse women’s basketball team was a dream come true. I watched all of Syracuse’s games leading up to my arrival on campus in January 2018. I knew I had to know the team before they knew me as it would make for a smooth transition. That’s when I first learned about Tiana Mangakahia. Syracuse had a dynamic, crafty point guard who could dish 10 assists per game while pouring in 17-plus points. One of the first Syracuse games I watched, Tiana had a program-record 17 assists in a game. She was special to watch. What I learned immediately when I began in January was how special she was as a person, too.
Tiana scored 44 points the first Syracuse game I worked. She led the team in points and assists en route to earning All-ACC First Team honors. Syracuse has a substantial amount of media coverage for women’s basketball so Tiana and I spent a lot of time together my first year between interviews to postgame press conferences. We established a great relationship and became close friends. She would talk to me about things beyond basketball, such as family, religion and goals for the future. She quickly learned that I cared about her so much deeper than just as a student-athlete, but also as a person, as I do with all the student-athletes with whom I’ve been lucky to work with.
• • •
In March, Tiana was named Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention and was a top-5 finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is awarded to the nation’s best point guard. She was draft eligible and had a handful of days to decide if she would turn pro and try her luck in the WNBA Draft (she was projected anywhere from the second to third round) or return to Syracuse for her final year of eligibility. The deadline was midnight on a Sunday and I went to visit my family for the weekend. While I was out of town, Tiana called me multiple times a day bouncing her thoughts about her decision off me. It felt like the longest weekend of my career. I was stressed and I was absorbing her stress. When she made her final decision to stay, she called me and told me. I cried. I was so excited to have the opportunity to work with her for one more season and promote her story as she aimed to be a first round draft pick in 2020. I will never forget what she said “Liv, everything in my head is telling me to go pro, but something in my heart is telling me to stay.”
Over the next two and a half months I watched Tiana work harder than any athlete I ever worked with. She was a machine, in the best shape of her life and doing everything possible to position herself for the best season of her collegiate career and to be a lock for the 2020 WNBA Draft Class.
Gallery: (5-20-2020) Olivia Coiro and Tiana Mangakahia
• • •
Tiana walked into my office and told me she found a lump on her left breast. I remember telling her it was probably nothing, maybe a cyst, and she was fine. She had a biopsy that afternoon and the following Tuesday, June 18, 2019, she received a call that she had Stage 2, Grade 3 Ductal Carcinoma… breast cancer. She was 24 years old and perfectly healthy — on the outside. My first phone call was to my mom, who’s met Tiana and loves watching her play. I sat on the floor in my house and cried to her. I was so scared. Mom told me to get it together and be there for Tiana.
In the following weeks and days I accompanied Tiana to countless doctors appointments. It was summer and her teammates were home for break, coaches were out recruiting and her family was half a world away in her native Australia. I guess I was the next best option. But the reality of it was over the months leading up to her diagnosis I had earned her trust as her SID. She knew she could lean on me for anything, compliance permitting, and that I would always be there for her. When she got diagnosed, I knew if Tiana needed me to be with her, nothing would get in the way.
On July 1 Tiana shared her cancer diagnosis with the world. The week before we worked as a team with Tyler Cady, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, to decide how and when she would share the unfortunate news. She decided that she wanted to tell her team first. On Sunday, June 30, I rushed back from a family vacation to be there to support her at our team meeting. Telling the team was the first of many hard conversations Tiana would have over the next few weeks. The next day, her diagnosis went public. I remember the two of us sitting in my office crying after we pressed send. Both of our phones started going off with messages from people all across the world sending love and support Tiana’s way. We decided to go visit her friend and former teammate Miranda Drummond who was working a summer job at a local ice cream shop. I could tell T needed to see a friendly face. Ice cream was the best medicine that day.
• • •
From the moment we pressed send on July 1, my phone hasn’t stopped buzzing. Media requests, appearance requests, questions and concerns from people all over asking about Tiana. It was nothing I could have prepared for.
When Tiana’s news first went public I immediately started to reach out to other SIDs who have worked with student-athletes that had cancer or life-threatening diseases. Scott McConnell at Texas was a huge help to me. We talked on the phone for about an hour about his similar experience with UT men’s basketball player Andrew Jones and he answered every question I had. At the end of our conversation one thing was clear, Tiana’s situation would be different as she elected to stay in Syracuse and seek treatment locally.
• • •
Tiana is an instant boost of energy. She doesn’t have bad days and doesn’t allow you to have them around her. She always finds a way to show you that things will get better. In the blink of an eye, Tiana is getting shots up in the Melo Center again, cancer-free since an early November surgery.
As I reflect back on this experience working with Tiana during such a pivotal time in her life, I smile. As her hair grows in and she gets closer and closer to returning to the basketball court, I’m reminded that this part of her journey will have a happy ending and I’m fortunate to help tell her story.
SIDEBAR
More than My SID
by Tiana Mangakahia
When I first met Olivia Coiro (Liv), she was teaching me ways to improve my public speaking, specifically with the media. That was my first impression of what an SID was. Since then, I’ve gotten better but she still reminds me to cut down filler words during interviews such as ‘um’ and ‘like’. She’s been pushing me to be great since we met. But Liv has also been my home away from home.
Last fall was the darkest moment of my life. Being diagnosed with breast cancer at 24 changed my life in so many ways I didn’t anticipate. There were so many horrible nights and days. It really helped having Liv there.
Even before I got sick, Liv was the first person I would talk to about basketball or life in general. Last May, when I decided to stay at Syracuse for my final year of eligibility I spent the whole summer in ’Cuse. All of my teammates were home and I was still training. I would always ask Liv if she could hang out with me. She’d remind me that she was my SID and needed to maintain a professional relationship with me. So instead I would frequently visit her in the office just to spend time together while her workload was less in the summer. She’s always felt like more of a friend to me than an SID.
Liv came to my first oncology appointment when I was told I would lose my hair. She was there for my bone scans, heart scans and all my tests before I started chemo. All along she was right there with me. On my surgery day, she was there. Sometimes we would be at the doctor throughout the entire day; it made my day just talking to her and having her with me.
She saw every side of me; angry, happy, depressed, anxious. Every possible emotion you could think of, Liv has seen from me. I remember all the times I cried to her in her office or when she would wake up early before work to accompany me to a doctor’s appointment. A few mornings I called her crying because I didn’t want to get out of bed and she would stop by and cheer me up. This isn’t even a fraction of how much Liv was there for me.
I’m so blessed to have Liv in my life. Especially when I felt like I had no one, she would call or text me at the right time, unknowingly reminding me I had her. I realize now, after everything I’ve been through, the importance of a good relationship between an SID and student-athlete.
It’s impossible to express into words how much Liv means to me. To think that next year will be my last year at Syracuse with Liv makes me sad, but I know that she will be part of my life forever. I love her. |
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