In her 13th year as head coach and 18th year overall on the Brunswick girls' basketball staff, Maria Mangram has learned not to compare one team to another.
"[But] as a coach, every now and then, a team will come along where you’re like this, 'this is the one,” Mangram said at a recent practice.
The 2021-2022 Lady Pirates fit that description.
Through the month of January, they are 19-1. The talent pool is as deep as it's ever been. The Lady Pirates play 11-to-12 players every night. Multiple players are expected to receive Division I offers.
"Target [on our backs]? Yeah, it's a BIG one," grinned senior captain Shakardia Cowart. "It's kind of tough. But we're taking it day-by-day."
20 games into the season, the Lady Pirates also have their head coach on the door of a milestone: her 250th career win.
"We could get our coach 250 wins? That’s amazing because not all coaches get to see 250 wins,” junior forward Shamya Flanders smiled.
“There’s some coaches that don’t get to 100 in their tenure," added Mangram. "We’re definitely humble about it, but excited as well. We’re still gonna take it one game at a time.”
It's a mark that Mangram once didn't think possible.
"Because I was born and raised in Brunswick, I was the first person to say I did not want to be in Brunswick. I did not want to be here. I wanted to venture out and see what I could find."
After playing at Brunswick and Fort Valley State University, Mangram had made plans to play professionally overseas, only to tear her ACL just before departure.
"I was down in the dumps. But [then-head coach] Nagene Thomas called my parents and then called me. We worked it out, I applied for the job, and I became her assistant coach."
That's also part of why Mangram doesn't like to compare her Lady Pirates teams of years past. It's part of why her team takes a level-headed, "game-by-game" approach. It's not just those 18 Brunswick squads that she's coached that Mangram has been a part of. Mangram's parents moved to Brunswick while her mother was pregnant with her, when her dad accepted a coaching position on the Pirate football staff in 1980.
There's a reason Mangram says she bleeds Brunswick blue-and-gold.
"I'm appreciative of the opportunity I've gotten here," Mangram explained. "I'm also appreciative of the fact that people have allowed me to make a name for myself, as opposed to always being 'Coach Willis' daughter.' I know for life, that's who I'm going to be."
And, as she reflects on what Win No. 250 will mean, it was her players-first, but also her parents and family who Mangram says she thinks of. A few years ago, John Willis suffered a stroke. For a two year-stretch, he was unable to attend most Lady Pirates' games.
"From when I was playing to college ball, they never missed a game," Mangram said of her parents. "So, for me, that was a hard transition to look up in their spot where they always sit and not see them there."
It was that same community of Brunswick that raised her, that same community of Brunswick that allowed Mangram to write her own legacy, that came to support her and her brother (who also serves as an assistant coach) during that difficult time.
All the while, the Lady Pirates kept winning.
Mangram previously reached 200 career wins during the 2019-2020 season. Her 2016 squad reached the Final Four. The 2015 squad began the season 28-0.
"We have made a name for ourselves. When people see 'Brunswick,' I want them to know that Brunswick Lady Pirates basketball is about business. We might be in South, but we can play ball, too."
Now, another milestone, Win No. 250, is within reach. As of January 31, Willis is three wins away. The Lady Pirates also have aspirations for an even bigger milestone: the first State Championship in girls' basketball in school history.
And if that happens, another milestone may also come to pass.
"My dad is better now. [My mom and dad have] been to all of our home games. They haven’t quite gotten to the traveling yet, but he promised me if we make it to the State Championship game, he’ll be there," Mangram said with a smile.
18 years of coaching. 247 wins (and counting). Decades of dedication to a school and a community.
It's still the day-to-day lessons of coaching that fuel Mangram's passion.
"I wouldn't trade it for the world. A lot of people don't know the in's and out's of being a coach. I'm 'mom' to some. I'm 'big sister' to some. I'm 'auntie' to some. It's just an honor to touch young girls' lives every single day."