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Dan Lyons is a 2003 Century High graduate who will turn 38 in August. He helped lead Century to the 2003 Class AA state baseball championship, then the Rochester A’s American Legion team to the state and national championships that summer. Lyons played two years of junior college ball at Iowa Central Community College and two years at the University of Minnesota. He also excelled with the Rochester Honkers during his college years and later was drafted by the Washington Nationals. He played four years of minor-league baseball for the Nationals and then spent eight more years with the independent Long Island Ducks before getting into coaching. He recently landed a job in Rochester and will be getting married this coming week. He sat down for this week's Saturday Sports Q+A:
Post Bulletin: You are back in Rochester, how did that come about?
Dan Lyons: I was down in Alabama, coaching at University of West Alabama, and I am getting married next week, so I was just looking to the future. Coaching, at least as an assistant coach, as far as making money and providing for a family, just wasn’t in the cards. I enjoyed what I was doing, but it just wasn’t going to be able to work. I was able to find a great opportunity with a job back here, my fiancee was able to get a teaching job in the school district here so everything sort of worked out to come back to Rochester.
PB: Where do you work now?
Lyons: I’m a territory manager for Zynex Medical, which is a medical device company. It’s basically within the southeast Minnesota area. It’s a sales job, I’m basically a rep for our area. I drive around, I talk to doctors and physical therapists, different providers trying to have them write prescriptions for our devices.
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PB: Do you ever want to get back into coaching, or do you want to move on?
Lyons: No, I think I want to move on from it. I did enjoy it. The money wasn’t great, (and) amount of time coaches have to put into what they’re doing, especially on weekends and late nights with games and practices, going back to getting married and having a family, being a coach doesn’t really allow for that.
PB: You’re playing (amateur baseball) for the Rochester Royals this season. Is playing something that still appeals to you?
Lyons: I play every now and then. I was happy to be retired. To be honest, (Royals pitcher) Matt Meyer has been talking to me a lot about coming back and playing. He wants to win a state championship before he hangs them up so he convinced me to come back and play a little bit. I had a chance to get in a few games and it took some time getting back into it because I haven’t played for four years. I’ll never be in the shape that I was before, I had a few sore nights, but I’m getting better.
PB: Do you have a timetable of how long you want to keep playing?
Lyons: It will probably be just this year, maybe another one, we’ll see. A lot of it will depend on family and trying to figure out how much time I want to devote to other things while I’m trying to get to the next stage of my life moving forward.
PB: There are some good baseball facilities in Rochester. Even if you don’t coach, do you have any interest in helping area players improve their game?
Lyons: I haven’t really given it much thought. I’ve done that in the past and it’s rewarding, too. I’ve enjoyed it, but I want to see how much time I’m willing to give to other areas of my life because we’re going to try to start a family soon.
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PB: Did you meet your fiancee during your playing career?
Lyons: Yes, I met her in Long Island, she’s from New York. We’ve been together over six years now.
PB: Is your long term goal to stay in Rochester?
Lyons: “I’m not really sure right now. We’re looking at staying in Rochester and hopefully everything goes well with this job. I’m trying to build a footprint here in the southeast Minnesota area with my job. I think if all goes well, it should be pretty good for myself and my family. I think if that’s the case, we can make a pretty good life here.”
