ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: RAY COX THE ROANOKE TIMES
You name it, Larry Mannon has coached it or played it. Now he faces challenge of rebuilding Radford High's girls' program.
Ben Nester, a thoughtful junior at Radford High, paused and considered the coaching change on the Bobcats girls basketball team.
Nester is known around town for his ability to smartly whack a tennis ball. He'll also take a swing at a tough question.
Just what can the girls expect from their new coach Larry Mannon? As a tennis player on Mannon's varsity, Nester knows his coach.
"They'll be scared of him at first, but after they get to know him, they'll love him,'' he said.
Mannon, a coach of a grab bag of sports at Radford for the past 16 years, is not a man for false impressions.
He is all business about doing things right on the tennis court, the golf course, the football field or the basketball floor. Mannon is a Floyd County native who never knew he wanted to teach school until he actually did it. Yet he has coached winners at Radford in football, basketball, baseball, tennis and golf. Most, with the exception of tennis and golf, have been on the junior varsity or eighth-grade level.
"It was like when I was in school at Floyd County, I was always doing something, whatever the season,'' he said.
In high school, that meant football, basketball, track and tennis. Coaching in high school, it was all of the above.
All but girls.
"Never coached them,'' he said. "But I'm getting lots of information.''
All the information he needed before taking the job was that Radford had a great tradition for girls basketball but had hit a lull in the '90s. The 1996 season may have been one of the toughest. Veteran coach Brenda King resigned before the season was over and boys coach Rick Cormany stepped in to finish the season out.
Mannon already has a plan.
"The fundamentals of the game to me is the key,'' he said. "We'll spend the entire preseason and a major part of our time thereafter on it.''
Girls, boys - hoops are hoops.
"He'll do fantastic with the girls,'' predicted Betty Branch, the girls tennis coach and one who has worked with Mannon for years. "Larry has high standards. He not only sets them, he lives up to them, too.''
Mannon's message has universal appeal.
"In a very low-keyed way, he gets the most out of the playing talent he has available to him,'' Branch continued. "He doesn't have to yell and scream. The players know what he expects and they give it.''
Mannon has kept the same low-key style in sadness as well as triumph. He was a disappointed contender several times for the varsity boys basketball job.
"I have feelings like everybody else, but I'm not going to beat on decisions that have been made,'' he said. "I'm in love with Radford High School. There are a super group of kids here and a great group of people to work with. I've had opportunities to go other places. This is where I wanted to be.''
Mannon knows hard times from another athletic perspective, that of a player. As a senior at Floyd County, he caught 40 passes for more than 700 yards and was still second-team All New River District because Radford was in the process of going on to be undefeated state champions while throwing for a zillion yards.
The three Floyd varsity football teams Mannon played for won a game per season; his basketball teams won one game in two seasons.
"I know how it is to lose and to get kicked big time,'' he said.
As a coach, the balance sheet shows far more wins than losses. In tennis this season, for example, the Bobcats are 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Three Rivers District. There seems not to be much debate about the source of his success.
"When you're down, he's always there knowing exactly what to say to pick you up,'' tennis player Ravi Tayal said.
Plain speaking is one of the coach's specialties, too.
"If you're screwing up, he'll tell you,'' said Will Farmer, another tennis player. "He'll tell you you have no chance of winning if you continue what you're doing.''
Farmer cautioned against misleading first impressions.
"I was scared to death of him before I knew him,'' he said. Added Nester: "People think he's really serious, but he's really one of the funniest people I know.''
Life for Mannon didn't look as though it would go this way when he was just getting started professionally. After attending New River Community College, Virginia Tech and Radford and earning a business degree at Radford, Mannon fell into coaching almost by accident. They needed a substitute gym teacher at Floyd County for a couple of weeks and he was available.
"It was fun and I liked it,'' he said. "Going out and playing softball every day in class, what can be better than that?.
"I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, but I did know this: I didn't want to sit in an office on my butt for eight hours of the day.''
He wouldn't want to convey the wrong impression.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: RAY COX THE ROANOKE TIMES. Larry Mannon has coachedby CNBwinners at Radford in football, basketball, baseball, tennis and
golf. color.