Soddy-Daisy girls' basketball coach Drew Lyness will be coaching against his sister Bailey's Red Bank team tonight.
Coach Bailey Lyness McGinnis watches players practice Monday at Red Bank High School. Her team plays tonight against her brother's Soddy-Daisy Lady Trojans.That Drew Lyness and his sister, Bailey, will be engaged in heated competition against each other tonight is nothing new. However, it will be first time the two have competed against each other as head high school basketball coaches.
When the ball goes up tonight at 6 at Soddy-Daisy, Bailey's Red Bank Lionettes and Drew's Lady Trojans will square off in the first of perhaps many games to come in this legendary sibling rivalry. Or at least it was legendary inside Bret and Wendy Lyness's household.
"One time when we went on a family camping trip, they went fishing and she caught one immediately," Wendy said. "Drew fished all night trying to catch one. They're very competitive."
Bailey, who recently got married and whose last name is now McGinnis, admitted she often lost when as children the two played their own makeshift game of one-on-one, living-room baseball. She said the loser in anything usually gets mad, and stays mad, but they vow to be on their best behavior tonight.
Dad is taking a totally neutral posture.
"I'm going to be sitting behind the scorer's table," he said, "with a white shirt on, and I'm going to clap my hands any time anybody scores."
Mom plans to watch from the second deck of the gymnasium, away from the court. She vows to do the same when the teams play at Red Bank.
"She got mad at me when I started yelling at the girls," Drew said, trying to reason his mother's decision. "She got mad and walked off."
Drew and Bailey were born the same week, four years apart.
"Always, growing up, I followed him around," Bailey said. "He's been great to let me do that all 23 years."
Bailey had a year of basketball eligibility left at Tennessee Wesleyan. But having already graduated, and with the opportunity presenting itself for her to get a teaching job at her high school alma mater, she decided to forgo her final year of playing.
She interviewed for that position at Red Bank in March and mentioned to principal Dr. Justin Robertson at the time that she would like to be a basketball coach in the future. The future turned out to be about three weeks later when she was offered the head coaching position.
"I've always been used to going and watching her play," Drew said. "All of a sudden, now I've got to coach against her."
Last season was Drew's first as a head coach. Adding spice to tonight's game -- and Soddy-Daisy and Red Bank already are rival schools -- is that Bailey has previously done offseason work with her brother's program.
"She came and worked with our guards," Drew said. "A lot of stuff we've done the last couple of years -- some sets, some drills -- is stuff she ran when she was playing at Wesleyan. Some inbound plays we use were things Wesleyan ran with her."
So will those things be in use tonight, or can we expect some new wrinkles? Both teams could use a victory.
"I think our teams are in similar spots," Bailey said. "We've both just won one game and we're trying to build up from there. The cool thing is I know all of them. I've worked with those girls every summer since he's been there."
Bailey said she and her brother still talk to each other almost every day. Drew recently sent a text that simply read, "Two days."
Bailey knew what it meant. She also knows the rematch at Soddy-Daisy is Feb. 5.
"There's been some trash talk back and forth," Bailey said. "Obviously, I want to win. But I'm his number one fan and he's mine. It's going to be a fun night for us, either way."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.