Gonzaga Nation

Gonzaga women’s basketball coach Lisa Fortier announces she has breast cancer

‘It was very unexpected for our team and our family … it takes a while to figure out what to do next when you hear something like that,” Fortier said in a video posted by the women’s basketball team

Cole Forsman

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Lisa Fortier looks on in a 2023 game against the Portland Pilots at McCarthey Athletic Center.
Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Lisa Fortier looks on in a 2023 game against the Portland Pilots at McCarthey Athletic Center. / James Snook-Imagn Images
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In the middle of what she called a “very epic” season, Gonzaga women’s basketball head coach Lisa Fortier was faced with life-altering news.

On Feb. 6, Fortier was diagnosed with breast cancer. She announced the news in a social media post on Tuesday as she proudly sported her bald head.

“It was very unexpected for our team and our family,” Fortier said in the video posted on X. “But you know at that time we were right in the middle of a very epic season and it takes a while to figure out what to do next when you hear something like that.”

The Bulldogs went 32-4 and advanced to the Sweet 16 this past season. Since then, it’s been a “full-go” on treatment for Fortier, who said her first surgery in April was successful.

“When someone tells you, you have Stage 2 or 3 breast cancer that’s spread to your lymph nodes, it’s startling,” Fortier said. “Once you get over the shock it doesn’t take very long to realize just the beautiful life we get to live. You only get one of them and you don’t have control over all parts of it. So it’s really important to love your people well and to not let life pass you by.”

Following Gonzaga’s historic 2023-24 season, Fortier earned the Kathy-Delany Coach of the Year honor, which recognizes the most outstanding mid-major head coach in the country. She’s also been named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year six times and was the Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year in 2015. 

The Bulldogs have won at least 20 games every season under Fortier, who’s entering her 11th year at the helm. The Zags have also won the WCC Tournament four times in her tenure. She’s been with the program and the Spokane community essentially since she earned her master’s degree in Sports and Athletic Administration at Gonzaga in 2006. Following one season as an assistant with Northern Colorado, Fortier joined the Gonzaga women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach in 2007.

Since then, Fortier and her husband Craig Fortier have raised three children together as co-coaches/co-parents. Craig joined the Gonzaga women’s basketball staff as an assistant coach in 2014.

The family-oriented coaching staff has certainly rubbed off on the program’s culture. Like the other athletic programs at Gonzaga, the women’s basketball team embraces becoming leaders off the court by being active members of the Spokane community. Earlier this year, members of the team spent time with children at Gonzaga Family Haven and residents of the Rockwood Retirement Community.

Snippets of Fortier’s lifelong bonds with current and former players can be seen via one quick scroll through her social media accounts, which are filled with heartfelt birthday messages dedicated to the people closest to her. 

“My big takeaway so far is just not to take for granted,” Fortier said in the video. “Whatever my situation is, to enjoy each day that I get to show up to a place where I’m happy to be there and happy to be around the people who I’m around.”

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Cole Forsman

COLE FORSMAN

Cole Forsman is a reporter for Gonzaga Nation, a member of Sports Illustrated’s FanNation network. Cole holds a degree in Journalism and Sports Management from Gonzaga University.

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