Fueled by mom’s cancer battle, Doug Schwab leads Northern Iowa into NCAA wrestling tournament

Doug Schwab is talking about adversity, and how he hopes his Northern Iowa wrestlers handle it this week in Cleveland. The NCAA Wrestling Championships can be an emotional monster at times, so preparation, Schwab says, is key.

“How do you respond to that adversity?” he says. “Adversity could be many things. It could be a match. It could be an injury.

“It could be cancer.”

It has been an irregular season for the Panthers’ eighth-year head coach. In addition to leading Northern Iowa to a second-place finish at its inaugural Big 12 Championships, he’s also been attending to his mother, Susan, who had been fighting cancer in her bones and lungs since mid-October.

“There’s not a person that’s not impacted by it, whether it’s a family member or themselves,” Schwab said. “You always think the worst when you hear it.”

On March 5, Schwab returned from the Big 12 tournament and shared good news. After six rounds of chemotherapy over six months, doctors declared that there was “no sign of disease” in Susan. Schwab’s smile went ear-to-ear as he stood at the lectern and spoke.

“Certainly not out of the woods yet,” he said then, “but all the victories we had this weekend, my biggest one was on Thursday.”

That Susan — she goes by "Sue" — fought back against a deadly disease did not surprise Schwab. She raised three boys and one daughter, Julie. All three boys —Mike, Mark and Doug — wrestled at Osage, and combined to win six individual state titles.

Doug Schwab, of course, went on to become a three-time All-American at Iowa from 1999-2001. After, he won gold at the Pan-American Championships in 2006 and made the 2008 Olympic team. Sue was there every step of the way.

Schwab became Northern Iowa’s head coach ahead of the 2010-11 season, and Sue has since been a mainstay in the stands at the West Gym in Cedar Falls. She watched Schwab take the Panthers from 46th at the NCAA tournament in his first year to as high as ninth in 2014.

“My mom’s been an absolute rock for me my whole life,” Schwab said. “Just constant support and love and just always being there.”

The Panthers again held high expectations entering the 2017-18 season, but Schwab pushed those thoughts aside in mid-October. Sue wasn’t feeling well.

A series of doctors' visits led her to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Scans revealed the cancer. Chemotherapy began immediately.

“Part of that was to give her the best chance to lengthen life a little bit,” Schwab said. “The most telling thing for me was that she never complained about it. She never said, ‘Why me?’ She’s like, ‘You know, I smoked for a long time. I’m not going to feel sorry for myself.’

“I remember sitting in the room and the doctor was like, ‘Yeah, we don’t like how this looks. We’d like to start today.’ There’s some tears, but it quickly changed to, ‘I have too many things to live for. I’m ready to go to battle with this thing.’ I saw that happen.”

Schwab returned to Cedar Falls shortly afterward and informed his team that he might be gone at times to assist in his mother's care.The entire program got behind him — each wrestler wrote a letter to Sue to express support during her fight.

“It was kind of inspiring to see him be so selfless in a time like this,” said Max Thomsen, a sophomore 149-pounder. “We felt for him, but we just wanted to be there for him, no matter what, and help him through that.

“We’re always going to have his back, because we know he’d have our back, all the same.”

The support engulfed the Schwab family, and Sue became an inspiration for Schwab and his team. After one chemo session, Schwab says she returned home and began scrapping her walls so she could repaint her kitchen. She didn’t miss any of Northern Iowa’s home duals.

“That just fires you up, because she’s such ... a tough woman. It’s almost unbelievable," said Taylor Lujan, a sophomore 174-pounder.

“You hear stuff about how chemo takes everything out of you, but to see her at every meet, cheering — it fires you up. You know that this means a lot to her, too.”

The team left for the Big 12 tournament on March 2, a Thursday. On the drive down, Schwab got a phone call. The doctor was giddy, and told Schwab that there was “no evidence of the disease.”

Schwab was at peace all weekend, and Northern Iowa finished second — behind Oklahoma State, but ahead of South Dakota State and Wyoming. Six Panther wrestlers qualified for this week’s NCAA Championships. All but one earned a seed.

Schwab said Sue will be inside Quicken Loans Arena this week, cheering on the Panthers. Ahead of each competition, Schwab reminds his wrestlers to stay in the moment and enjoy the ride.

That lesson has been all the more meaningful this season.

“Those are just great reminders because, man, having it hit my mom, that hits home,” Schwab said. “Let’s seize the opportunity and make the most of what’s in front of us. Let’s go out and enjoy it.

“What I’ve told our guys — whatever comes our way, put your hands out and welcome it, because you can handle anything.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.