UL softball coach diagnosed with breast cancer: ‘I’m good. Nothing has changed.’
UL coach Alyson Habetz, shown here celebrating a home run last season, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, but doesn’t plan to change any of her plans to coach in the 2026-27 school year. STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP
Days after her UL softball team was eliminated in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on May 7, coach Alyson Habetz was feeling more than a broken heart after the disappointing end to the season.
While preparing for a game in the tournament, Habetz “felt something kind of tight … It just didn’t feel right.”
So she scheduled a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy the week following the finale. The diagnosis was breast cancer. Medically speaking, it’s called triple positive invasive ductal carcinoma.
“My first reaction was, 'Ok, we’ve got to get this over with and done, because I’ve got to hit the portal and start recruiting,” she said. “To me, it was just a bump in the road.”
Over three months later, Habetz’s approach to the news and subsequent chemotherapy treatments hasn’t changed a bit.
“It’s a type of cancer that others have struggled through before and come out victorious,” she said. “So that’s exactly how I plan on doing this. There’s no doubt God has a plan for this. My goal is just to follow his plan perfectly.”
From diagnosis day until now, Habetz has avoided the agonizing thoughts that often accompany the shock.
“There’s never been any sense of worry or fear at all,” Habetz insisted. “I guess that’s a grace I have because I know that’s not the case all the time. I’m blessed with that because of my faith, but it’s really true. I’m good. Nothing has changed.”
Habetz has already undergone four chemo treatments. The fifth one is going to be Sept. 8 and the final one three weeks later.
“It’s already shrunk,” she said.
She’ll then wait 3-4 weeks after the sixth treatment to have surgery, followed by occasional radiation.
“I’ll only be out a week for surgery - probably toward the end of October, which kind of works,” Habetz insisted. “I’ll be here for all the games in fall ball. I’ll be good to go.”
Over the summer, she hosted a portal visit one day, underwent a chemo treatment the next day and then hosted another prospect a day later.
Truthfully, Habetz’s first reaction was to not tell anyone.
“I just feel like in my whole journey, Jesus has taken care of me my whole life,” Habetz said. “I wasn’t worried.”
But she soon realized how much help her sisters who live right next door to her - Monica and Keven - could help.
“I couldn’t do it without them,” Habetz said of her sisters. “They stepped up big time - just bringing me to appointments. When you go to the doctors, I might hear something, and she might hear something totally different.”
In fact, the two things Habetz has been most concerned about are how and when to tell her mother and the same thing for her team.
“I didn’t want my mom to worry and I didn’t want to be a distraction to the team,” Habetz said.
Because the team was mostly back home during the summer, delivering the message to the group was a challenge.
“I thought about doing a zoom call, but I just felt like it needed to be in person,” Habetz said. "My greatest fear was they would find out and it wouldn’t be from me.
“I wanted to be able to look them in the face and tell them everything’s OK. Nothing has changed. I’m still the same person. I wanted them to know I’m not going to be any easier on them because of this.”
Habetz broke the news to both her mother Deanna and her team Monday on the first day back to school.
“At the end of the day, I need my team,” she said. “They’re my family. I want them to know that I’m not going to be any different. Sure, there might be times when I might only be 70%, but they’re going to get 100% of my 70%. I need them to know that.”
Her coaching staff helped Habetz get through the heavy summer recruiting period with Bill Shipman and Kyle Brady taking on much of the traveling and Habetz and Lacy Prejean handling most of the portal visits locally - although she did fly to Indiana and several other recruiting trips.
Although the 54-year-old Habetz has also fought for what she believed, she doesn’t seek out attention.
During her high school years, she went to court for the right to be the first female in the state to play baseball because Notre Dame didn’t offer softball in those days.
“I don’t want this to be all about me,” Habetz insisted. “I don’t want to be the center of attention. I’m the youngest of eight in my family and I was an assistant coach for 25 years, so being the center of attention is now what I enjoy.”
Moreover, Habetz hopes her many friends and former players understand why she kept the news from them over the summer.
“I have so many amazing people in my life and the people here are so giving, so I know they’re going to support me and I want that,” she said. “I love that. I know I’m going to be overwhelmed with gratitude, but I don’t want to be a distraction for this team.”
Habetz, however, was wise enough to reach out to Penn State volleyball coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who won a national title while batting cancer.
“Her (Schumacher-Cawley) wisdom helped me a lot and her journey inspires me,” said Habetz, who also referenced the example of Florida State’s softball coach Lonnie Alameda’s cancer battle.
“Really, I’m good,” said Habetz, who led a prospects camp at Lamson Park from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. "I have a great doctor (Joseph Brierre at Our Lady of Lourdes). Everyone there has been great. Sure, it makes me tired at times and there are few side effects, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. It hasn’t been debilitating at all.
“I’m still good to go. This team is a special group. I can’t wait.”