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BREAKING: Cydryce McMillian leaving St. Agnes Academy to take over Episcopal Volleyball
HOUSTON - When Episcopal Athletic Director Jason Grove sat down with Amanda Watts to talk about who her successor could be as she was set to leave at year's end, they both grabbed a piece of paper.
Grove and Watts both wrote down the name of their top choice to take over the Episcopal volleyball program for the 2022 season and beyond. When they flipped their papers over the name matched - Cydryce McMillian.
On Friday, McMillian was officially announced as the new Episcopal head volleyball coach following a successful tenure at St. Agnes Academy where she led the Tigers to a pair of TAPPS 6A State Championships in the past three seasons.
"I'm at a point of my career where I have done so much in the volleyball community and I'm so thankful for the schools and places that I have been that have allowed me to grow as a coach and be able to mentor so many coaches underneath me," McMillian said. "I continue to love the game of volleyball because it teaches kids and staff how to live life and that's one of my passions. Professionally, I want to do more in administration and leadership. I just really felt after having conversations with key people on the Episcopal campus that I might find more opportunities to step into some leadership roles on the administrative side.
"It became very intriguing from that standpoint."
After knowing they wanted to pursue McMillian, a series of meetings would happen through January.
McMillian recalls meeting Grove for the first time to discuss the job at a Starbucks, then later went on campus and toured it with Watts to "get a vision of what the school really was".
"I began to envision what it would look like for me at [Episcopal]," McMillian said. "What it would look like for my kids to go there. So, I dove in and began to ask more questions of people in the community about the school ... I wanted to make sure I had an eye-opening view of what Episcopal had to offer."
McMillian takes over for Watts, who has spent the last 10 years at Episcopal building the volleyball program back into an SPC power like it was in the late 90s. The Knights won two SPC titles (2017, 2019) under Watts.
To have Watts hand pick her as her top choice to step into her role, McMillian said meant a lot to her.
"I love and adore Amanda and it is quite an honor to be a No. 1 choice for her," she said. "When you've been a part of a program for 10 years, it's really special to you and you want to be really mindful of who you pass that off to. So, I was extremely touched by the fact that she looked to me to be the person to take it over."
Watts said of McMillian: "I know how she is as a parent; I know how she is as an educator and a coach, and I just thought she'd be perfect for this program and great for Episcopal in general. Thankfully, it worked out and I'm so excited to have her taking over this program."
As McMillian takes over this program, she takes over a group that will return a lot of key pieces in 2022. Some of those include the likes of Allyson Frailey, Ava Harrington, Farah Farooq and Emma Poirot.
"I'm excited to get in there and rebuild the program in a sense in that there's a lot of things I can take from what she did but, of course, adding my own little twist to it," McMillian said. "I'm very excited. I like to be challenged and I'm a fast learner. I like to get into different cultures and communities and sit back and observe and figure out how I can make things better or do things differently that might light a fire in some ways and become contagious."
McMillian has been coaching volleyball since 2006 and has over 400 career wins and three state titles to her name.
In her coaching career, McMillian has made stops at St. Agnes Academy, St. Francis Episcopal, Cibola High School (New Mexico), Crowley, A&M Consolidated, Texas State University and Indiana University.
Outside of winning her two titles at St. Agnes Academy, McMillian's other state championship in her career came in her first year at Cibola High in 2014, which ended a 33-year drought.
This past season, McMillian was faced with another challenge off the court as in August she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Throughout the year every three weeks she would have to receive a chemotherapy treatment but didn't miss a beat.
Last week, McMillian underwent surgery to remove tumors and is feeling "healthy and strong".
"I had good results from it," McMillian said. "God has been really walking alongside me through this whole journey. It has been a blessing to live life to the fullest and be able to do the things I want to do to keep me sound mentally and physically."
“Her Fight is Our Fight”: Team, State Title help St. Agnes coach Cydryce McMillian amidst breast cancer fight
HOUSTON – Every season, the seniors of St. Agnes Academy volleyball are in charge of coining the team motto for that upcoming year.
The Class of 2022 went with “Apply the Pressure”.
Usually there is only one team motto for each season, but this fall was different. In fact, for coach Cydryce McMillian it was life changing. On the first day of tryouts, McMillian received a phone call and was told she had breast cancer.
Thus, the second motto for 2021, “Her Fight is Our Fight”, was born.
“That ‘her’ wasn’t just me,” McMillian said. “We put that on our Dig Pink shirts but that ‘her’ was all the individuals on our team who was going through something. I would tell them we are all in the same storm, the storm of life. We’re just in different boats and we’re just trying to get to that shoreline together and we’re not going to leave anyone behind.
“So, while my battle may be breast cancer. Your battle may be mental illness or something going on with the recruiting side. Everybody had something but collectively ‘Her Fight is Our Fight’ and we really embraced that concept. We were all fighting for someone else.”
Through the 2021 season, McMillian every three weeks had to travel downtown to undergo a chemotherapy session. Her first was on October 12, which was the same night of a practice.
On November 2, McMillian underwent her treatment that morning and that night it was a road match for her Tigers at rival Concordia Lutheran for the District Championship – they swept the Crusaders to win 3-0 and the district crown.
“It was good to see them fighting on days when I knew physically that I was fighting to beat this breast cancer,” McMillian said.
After that, the Tigers were in the TAPPS 6A playoffs, seeking their second state crown in a matter of three seasons.
St. Agnes Academy rolled past Trinity Christian Academy (3-1), Incarnate Word-San Antonio (3-0) and then Concordia Lutheran (3-1) in the state semifinals to reach the title game. Once there, they beat Prestonwood Christian 3-1 to capture the 2021 TAPPS 6A State Championship.
“State championships are hard, and they’ve come through a lot of adversity,” McMillian said. “When you start talking about championships and competing at that level, then you look at the teams and what they have to get through to get there. There’s a lot of adversity that teams have to overcome, either as individuals or as a team.
“It has been an honor to coach this program for the last three years and sustain a champion-like mindset and a culture that embraces that level of excellence year after year.”
As McMillian spoke to VYPE on November 23, the state champion coach had just finished her third session of chemotherapy that very morning.
Going through a season undergoing the treatment, McMillian said she was blessed to have limited side effects to it. But what really has helped her the most through this process is the game of volleyball and her team.
“I couldn’t have done it without them,” she said. “Being with my team and my program was definitely a distraction to what could have happened with all the other stuff had I not had some place to be. It gave me light during a time I wasn’t sure which way I was going but I knew I needed to put one foot in front of the other.
“There were some tough days and others I felt amazing. For me volleyball is more than a team, it’s a family, especially when you’re with this group every single day and I’m also an educator on campus. It was so warming to have them around me and asking how I’m doing or for me asking how they were doing. To know we were a family through all of this helped me to keep going and keep pushing.”
As McMillian has gone through this chapter of her life, she has had her team, the St. Agnes community but also her faith.
Which she has seen his light shine through the dark times in multiple areas of her life.
“He just continues to show me how good of a God he is and how much favor he has on me as a child of God,” McMillian said. “So, I can’t say enough praises for him and the things he’s done to take care of all the things that concern me. He’s done a good job watching over all of us and protecting us.
“I thank God for using me. As much as it’s not necessarily something I want to go through he has kept me the whole way as people are watching. My faith and my Christianity are very high and I’m thankful he’s used me and protected me so others can see who he truly is.”
This senior-landen team, which also created the hashtag “#We’veGotYourBackMac” to support their coach, was led by the likes of all-staters Sophie Agee, Lexi Visinitine and Grace Webber.
Webber led the team in assists with 577, while Visintine had 326 kills and 297 digs and Agee registered 485 kills, 322 digs and 40 blocks.
It was this group that came up with the “Apply the Pressure” and in a season where McMillian believes it was a season about “grit” and how to be a “champion” they fulfilled their vision from the summer.
“Their vision was that we were going to start as individual pieces of coal and go through a season where we had to continue to apply the pressure to come out as diamonds,” she said.
In the end, the diamonds they became will now be represented by the diamonds they put on their rings in a few weeks but for McMillian its about more than that.
“We grew a whole group of champions this year in so many ways,” McMillian said. “We did it and we did it together. It keeps me smiling. This one is so special for so many reasons. We’ve all made it to the top and now we’re taking a nice look of where we came from.”