Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of stories highlighting the new members of the Brownwood coaching staff for the 2020-21 school year.

After stops at Bangs and Early, Cherita (George) Munguia has returned to her alma mater as she will serve as the Lady Lions freshman basketball coach and an assistant on the Lady Lions varsity softball team.

“It was always the plan to come back to Brownwood,” Munguia said. “Even when I was in school in Brownwood I said that I always hoped that I would come back. I wanted to try to experience some different things, take some things from Bangs that I learned, take some things from Early that I learned and I feel that my arsenal is pretty much stocked and I can come back here and give it all that I can give.”

During her playing days at Brownwood High, Munguia – a member of the Class of 2013 – was a standout on the softball field and basketball court, and went on to excel on the diamond for the Howard Payne Lady Jackets.

Munguia was a four-time all-district selection in softball – twice as an outfielder and twice as an infielder – for Brownwood. Over the course of her first three years, the Lady Lions earned three consecutive district championships and reeled off 26 straight league victories in the process.

Coaching at other high schools in Brown County, Munguia managed to remain close to home with her sights set on Brownwood.

“It’s been really cool to get to play in our gym even as an opponent. We did it during offseason, in the summer and in scrimmages,” Munguia said. “I think by not leaving the area I never lost that passion as a Brownwood Lion. I got to watch girls that were behind me grow up and take the programs to new heights. Then I got to watch their little sisters and little brothers take the programs to new heights, so it’s been really cool to stay here.”

Munguia reflected on a Lady Lions basketball camp as the moment she decided to pursue coaching as a career.

“Coach (Heather) Hohertz was doing her summer league for the younger youth in town and Coach (Don) Hood was at the gym,” Munguia said. “I was getting all into it and we were having a lot of fun with those girls and really teaching them. I had one girl that had never dribbled, she’d never shot, she’d never tried a layup. She had never really touched a basketball her entire life.

“By the end of it she could do a right-hand and a left-hand layup and I remember feeling so much joy for that girl. When we finished Coach Hood and Coach Hohertz were standing over in the corner and Coach Hood said I should do this for a living. I remember looking at him because I come from a family of educators and thought, no I don’t want to do that. If your parents are educators you usually don’t want to do it, but then I started thinking about and thought what could be better for me to do then to try and give what I got from Coach Hohertz and Coach Hood.”

As for her fondest memories of her playing days at Brownwood, Munguia pointed to a perfect game thrown by Sydney Laws in softball, as well as multiple playoff trips.

Regarding basketball, Munguia said, “Every time we played in a basketball game I always remember Coach Hohertz being a rock for our program and being consistent. She wanted us to win as much as we did and wanted us to be successful so I always try to make sure that I have that passion in what I’m doing just like my athletes do.”