TCU’s Pebley thankful for another basketball season after emotional eight months
This Thanksgiving week will carry a little extra meaning for TCU women’s basketball coach Raegan Pebley.
Pebley underwent surgery this summer to remove a non-cancerous meningioma brain tumor, an emotional journey she shared on social media. That came on the heels of a basketball season that should have included a March Madness bid, but instead was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. And during a time when the country was in the midst of a national reckoning on racial injustice following the death of George Floyd.
“When you go through things in life, you have an opportunity to go through it better or bitter,” Pebley said. “We’ve tried to go through all of this with just an attitude of gratitude. An opportunity to make this better, make our lives better, make other people’s lives better, serve people better and more intentionally. This Thanksgiving we have a lot to be thankful for.
“We have a lot of work to do as well. We have a lot of work to do on the court, off the court, in our community, on our campus. So we’re incredibly thankful that we have the hearts that we have, the hands that we have, the feet that we have, the people around us to link in together and do that work together.”
It goes without saying that Pebley is thankful that another basketball season has arrived. The Horned Frogs will start their season against Incarnate Word at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Schollmaier Arena.
But it’s been a roller coaster ride of emotions the past eight months.
The TCU women’s team was in the midst of a memorable 2019-20 season going into the Big 12 tournament last March. The Frogs were 22-7, a lock to receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
It would have been TCU’s first berth in the women’s tournament since 2010, and the first since Pebley took over prior to the 2014-15 season.
But, before the women’s team could even start its postseason run, the Big 12 tournament was called off amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“What our team went through last spring, being literally told to get off the floor and your season is over, that was awful,” Pebley said.
Nothing really softened the blow, either. The NCAA’s selection committee wouldn’t provide some validation to a season by awarding bids to deserving teams such as TCU. In the end, it was simply devastation and disappointment.
“Time will continue to put it in more perspective, but we had to turn the page,” Pebley said. “You can’t force this team to live in the past. This team deserves the right and opportunity to create their own story. Next chapter. We’re moving forward. The seniors from last year, the team that was part of the ‘19-20 season, they had an awesome book. It’s a book I’d read again any time, but we’re in a new stage. We’re going to really focus on that, and live on that.”
Pebley is also fully recovered and moving on from brain surgery this summer. She shared a message on social media titled “Scars of Grace” where she opened up about her procedure and the perspective it brought her.
She ended it by writing: “Lead from grace. Reconcile from grace. Spread grace. Heal with grace. I pray for grace.”
That message resonated for many within the TCU community.
“If you know Raegan, the first thing you think about is how mentally tough she is,” athletic director Jeremiah Donati said. “This past year, for a lot of reasons, has maybe been the most challenging in her life. The way she’s handled it — with grace, with poise, with a smile on her face — is just really inspiring.”
Said Pebley: “My heart is filled with gratitude. My cup runneth over.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
