In the Skyhawk family: L.C. Bird basketball's father-son, coach-player duo balance basketball and life (2023)

Yuri Manns just had to let his dad and coach, Troy Manns, know about it.

Troy, a former George Mason (1992-94) and Virginia Tech (95-97) player and the boys basketball coach at L.C. Bird High for the past 12 years, was always a true point guard and, in his own playing days, never dunked with two hands in a game.

So when his son, Yuri, a more scoring-centric guard who's got a couple inches of height on his pops, threw down a two-handed jam in a game, he made sure to give Troy a few choice words on his way back down the court.

“When he did it, he said, ‘You never did that.’ These are conversations we have during the game," said a chuckling Troy Manns, whose son, English student and point guard is averaging about 24 points and four assists in his senior season for the No. 3-ranked, 11-6 Skyhawks.

"He runs down the court, I’m on the sideline, looking, inside I’m like ‘Wow, he did it.’ Being cool, he runs by and he’s like ‘Heh heh.’ I’m like ‘Get back on defense man!’”

That moment was a window into a father-son, coach-player dynamic that last season's Region 5C coach and player of the year said they're always navigating. When asked how they flip the switch between the two relationships, they laughed and said that's not how it works.

“I’m not one of those guys that says you leave it at practice, when you come home it’s over. No. That’s not true," Troy said as Yuri laughed and nodded.

"We’ll leave practice, I’ll drive him home and we’re talking about it. We’ll get home and he goes in his room, I go in my office, he doesn’t want to walk by my office because he knows I’ll say something, my wife [Laurie Manns] is in the middle."

Laurie Manns is a clinical therapist, so her husband and son said she's the perfect referee. And though basketball certainly plays a part in their personal life, Coach Manns always wanted to put their father-son relationship first. His own father died when Troy was 17 and a senior in high school.

“He was my hero, he was like Superman to me," Troy Manns said.

"And I had the blueprint, because my dad was great.”

Behind Manns, senior guard Brandon Wade and senior center Brett Dent (6-foot-10), the Skyhawks are among the top contenders in Region 5C. They've played a rigorous schedule, with their only local losses coming at the hands of No. 1 John Marshall (20-0) and No. 2 Varina (14-4). They've posted strong wins over good Manchester (No. 4, 17-1), Matoaca (12-4) and James River (13-3) teams.

A four-year varsity player, Yuri surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his Bird career this season on a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the right wing in a win over Midlothian. His teammates rushed onto the floor when it happened, prompting a stop to the game that Coach Manns did not plan for.

But it was a moment indicative of how much Yuri's leadership has come to mean to his teammates, his coach said.

“A lot of jumping and screaming," Yuri said with a grin. "I wasn’t expecting that but it was awesome.

"We’ve got a young group, they’re the best teammates I’ve ever had.”

He will likely finish top-five in Bird history in scoring and made 3-pointers, a fitting place in the lore of a program which effectively raised him. His earliest basketball memories are from when he was around 5-years-old, about the same time his dad took the Bird job.

The first times Yuri shot around in the Bird gym, he couldn't even reach the rim. In rec league games on Saturdays, Troy would see Yuri emulate something one of his Bird players did in a game the night before. The first time he donned a Skyhawks jersey, it was way, way too big for him.

“I basically grew up watching Bird play," said Yuri, who as a child modeled his game not after NBA superstars but after Skyhawks greats that he watched first-hand, in practice, like Kenny Williams (UNC) and CJ Miles (Roanoke).

"So it was always a dream to play here, play for my dad. ...I wouldn’t want to have anyone else as my coach."

More than 30 Bird players in his tenure have gone on to play college basketball, Coach Manns said. The time that they've given back to the program has impacted Yuri to the point that now he's taken a young team under his wing, teaching those around him and paying it forward as those who came before him did.

“They don’t understand the impact that time has on kids, and [Yuri] is a product of that," Coach Manns said.

"Those guys coming back, talking and just spending time with him. The Bird program made him a basketball player more than anything else.”

Manns has sought the advice of other local coaches whose sons have played under them, like Hopewell boys hoops coach Elvin Edmonds III and Highland Springs football coach Loren Johnson. Edmonds' son, Elvin Edmonds IV (Bucknell), was the All-Metro player of the year in 2021, and Johnson had two sons, Brennan and Braylon (Virginia Tech), on this year's Class 5-title-winning team.

"Coaching your kid is interesting,” Troy said, looking sideways at a smiling and nodding Yuri. “I’ve done some things right, I’ve done some things wrong.”

Chief among those missteps, Troy said, was the end of Yuri's sophomore season (2020-21) when Bird won a region title before losing in the state semifinals to eventual champs Green Run (Virginia Beach).

Yuri would have been a unanimous all-state selection. But Troy chose to give the honor to another player, wary of the outside perception that he was playing favorites with his son.

"I had done that throughout his time as a player, because of the whole ‘You only get this because your dad’s the coach.’ And I was trying to temper some of that," Troy said.

"Because it’s not easy when your dad’s the coach. And I had no idea it would be as tough as it was. And when I did that, I told myself it was the last time I was going to take something away from him that he earned."

Before that season, Troy said he'd been particularly hard on Yuri, trying to set an example and let the other players know that everyone would be held to the same standard, because "I had to coach him like everybody else."

“But he’s not [like everybody else]," Troy said, again glancing at a nodding Yuri.

"Because I can yell at a kid in practice, all day long. But when I blow that whistle and they leave, he’s going home. When I yell at [Yuri] in practice, it’s not coach yelling at him, it’s dad. We get in the car, we go home, it’s still dad. So he’s not the same as the other kids. The expectation for him isn’t the same as the other kids. And I had to learn that.

“So from then on, I made sure that I would do right by him. And I feel like I have. ... It’s not easy, but it has 100% been worth it. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. It’s been a lot of fun watching him evolve as a basketball player and as a young man.”

As the pair approach their final games together, they joked that they've probably had enough of one another at this point and it's about time Yuri played for someone else at the college level. Radford has offered him a scholarship, and Troy Manns spent time there as an assistant.

But first, they've got one last playoff run to attend to to.

“It’s going to be the perfect sendoff," Yuri said. "I wouldn’t do this with anybody else but him.”