Dan Lyons is heading into his third season as an assistant baseball coach at the University of West Alabama.
Lyons, a 13-year professional baseball veteran, came to West Alabama from the University of Minnesota where he served as a volunteer assistant coach while finishing his degree in communication arts.
Lyons finished his collegiate career at Minnesota in 2007, where he was an All-Big 10 selection and earned nods on the 2007 NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team, as well as the Big 10 All-Tournament Team.
A 14th-round selection by the Washington Nationals in 2007, Lyons had a very successful minor league baseball career. He played four years in the Nationals farm system for Vermont Lake, Potomac and Hagerstown before finishing up by playing eight seasons with the Independent League Long Island Ducks.
Over his 12-year professional career Lyons batted .252 with a .700 OPS. He had 50 home runs, drove in 483 and had over 1,000 career hits.
After serving as an instructor for Pro Game Athletics in Bayshore, New York, where he conducted off-season team training and individual defense, hitting and pitching instruction, he returned to Minnesota to serve as a student volunteer coach to finish his degree.
At Minnesota he worked with hitters and fielders, as well as serving as bullpen coach, bench coach and first base coach.
From Rochester, Minnesota, Lyons’ playing career also took him to stints at Iowa Central Community College, where he was a first team All-American and was inducted into the Iowa Central Triton Hall of Fame.
He also played for the Rochester Honkers in the Northwoods League and at Rochester High School, where he was all-state and won a state championship. Lyons was also the Big Nine Conference player of the year and the Minnesota High School All-Star Game MVP.
