 |
 A
life-long resident of Monaca, Mark Lyons grew up with
sports playing an important role in his life. Many of
his childhood days were spent in sports with his three
brothers, his sister, and his many friends from the
Monaca neighborhoods.
At Monaca High School, Mark was a three-sport
athlete, playing basketball, baseball, and football. As
a junior in 1982, Mark was part of the state
championship basketball team and the WPIAL championship
football team, for which he played running back and
cornerback.
Upon graduation, Mark enrolled at Penn State Beaver
to continue his education, playing baseball and
basketball. However, it was not until his second year at
Penn State, when approached by his former coach and
close friend Alan Guandolo
to volunteer as a high school football coach, that
Mark's career path would change.
Mark enrolled at Geneva College to pursue a degree in
education, and he would begin his high school coaching
career. Mark's coaching career was shaped by many great
coaches who mentored and supported him in developing as
a successful coach, including his high school coaches
Dave Nichol and Alan
Guandolo and his college coaches
Jim Karwoski and Elden
Price.
Mark has coached high school football for 36 years,
including 26 years as a head coach at Monaca High School
(1996-2000), Mt. Pleasant Area High School (2001-2008),
Freedom Area High School (2009), and Central Valley High
School (2010-present). To date, Mark's record overall as
a head coach is 209-96, with a 136-31 record at Central
Valley.
In 2010, when Center and Monaca high schools merged,
Mark was chosen to be the first head football coach of
the new Central Valley High School. In his tenure as
head coach of the Central Valley Warriors, his teams
have won five WPIAL titles (2010, 2014, 2019, 2020,
2021) and back-to-back 3A PIAA state championships
(2020, 2021).
During his coaching career, Mark has received
numerous honors, including Post-Gazette Coach of the
Year (2010), Pittsburgh Steelers Coach of the Week
(2013, 2018), Pittsburgh Steelers Coach of the Year
(2020), Beaver County Times Coach of the Year (2020),
PIAA Coach of the Year (2020, 2021), NFHS Sectional
Coach of the Year (2020, 2021), 3A Pennsylvania Writers
Coach of the Year (2020, 2021), and a nomination for the
NFL High School Coach of the Year (2021). Moreover, for
the prestigious Big 33 All-Star Game, Mark served as an
assistant coach in 2013 and as head coach in 2019.
Mark is currently a teacher and coach at Central
Valley. He and his wife Diane live in Monaca. Mark has a
son Marcus and a daughter Kaitlyn. |
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