Forget Coach Taylor! It’s all about Coach Monica, the 14-time collegiate national champion whose tough-love approach won the respect of her loyal cheerleaders, as well as binge-watchers everywhere as she guided the team to a big win at Daytona.
Of course, Monica stayed at Navarro, ready to lead the 2020 team to her 15th championship, but her plans were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in Nationals being canceled less than a month before the event.
“My heart is breaking for the lost memories and the lost time with my beautiful team,” wrote in Instagram in March 2020. ”I was not ready to say goodbye so quickly. I was not mentally prepared for the team to turn in uniforms, pack their things and leave town.”
When the 2020-21 season kicked off, Monica was pulling double duty as she joined the cast for Dancing With the Stars 29th season, placing in 10th place with her partner Val Chmerkovskiy. And on Jan. 4, 2022, she released her first book, Full Out: Lessons in Life and Leadership from America’s Favorite Coach.
In September 2019, Monica, who is married with two children (Austin, a football player at Southern Methodist University, and Ally, a cheerleader at Southern Methodist University), was inducted into the Navarro College Athletic Hall of Fame.