A Lyons tale
Cast aside by another school, Mark Lyons took two teams, made them one and built a WPIAL power
This is a Mark of excellence: Four WPIAL titles in 11 seasons, one PIAA championship, two other appearances in a state final and more wins in that time frame than almost all WPIAL coaches.
But to think, before Mark Lyons became the coach at Central Valley High School, before all the success, before his football team helped greatly smooth the merger of two high schools, he wasn’t good enough to continue as coach at another WPIAL high school. You’re fired.
That was what Lyons was told back in 2007, when Mount Pleasant showed him the door after Lyons went 30-40 in seven seasons. Maybe to fully appreciate what Lyons has done at Central Valley, you need to know the part of his coaching narrative when he was ousted at Mount Pleasant, right after his Vikings had a 7-3 season.
Considering how Lyons has now built one of the top programs in the WPIAL, it’s hard to fathom he once was fired. But it happens to the best of them. Look at the list of the 12 winningest coaches in WPIAL history, and almost half of them were either fired once, almost fired or forced into retirement before they wanted.
“I’m sure all coaches will tell you that if you’re in this long enough, someone is not going to like you and all it takes is those five people on a school board not to like you,” Lyons said. “It’s always politics in things like that. I really never got a true, true reason why (Mount Pleasant) got rid of me. Was I frustrated? Absolutely. I couldn’t believe they would do that. I didn’t understand it. But I knew I was going to rebound from it.”
Rebound? Heck, Shaquille O’Neal never rebounded so strongly. Lyons’ story is one of a comeback, from an ousted coach to one of the premier coaches in the WPIAL. Maybe some WPIAL coaches are better known, like Thomas Jefferson’s Bill Cherpak or Mt. Lebanon’s Bob Palko. But Lyons, 56, has climbed his way to the upper echelon of WPIAL head honchos. You might be surprised to know that since becoming Central Valley’s coach in 2010, Lyons has won 116 games, and the only WPIAL coaches with more wins in that time are South Fayette’s Joe Rossi (128), Central Catholic’s Terry Totten (124) and Cherpak (116).
Fired to first class. That is Lyons’ coaching story, but it has been an interesting ride to this elite level.
Bartender, will you coach?
What if Aliquippa, Riverside and Monaca didn’t all win WPIAL titles in 1985 and Beaver County didn’t have a celebration for the three teams at the Monaca American Legion? And what if college student Mark Lyons wasn’t tending bar that night at the Legion hall? Where would Lyons’ coaching career be today?
That fall, Lyons had decided to try coaching as a volunteer assistant in the midget leagues of Monaca while attending Penn State Beaver. He was a Monaca
High graduate, a member of the 1982 Monaca WPIAL championship team.
Al Guandolo was the coach at Monaca in 1985 and had heard of the energetic kid coaching in the midget leagues. So when Guandolo happened to run into Lyons behind the bar that night at the Legion hall, he was suddenly hit with an idea.
“He said to me, ‘Why don’t you come volunteer coach with us next season,’ so I did,” Lyons said.
And a championship coach was born. Guandolo had a big impact on Lyons for years and the two are still close today. Lyons went with Guandolo when Guandolo became head coach at Freedom and Lyons eventually became the defensive coordinator at Hopewell for a few years.
In 1996, Lyons was ready to become a head coach. Or at least he thought he was. He landed the job at his alma mater. He was sure he would make a difference, but he had “zero” impact at
first. Monaca didn’t score a point in the first two games and only eight in the third. The Indians finished 3-7 in Lyons’ first season.
But Monaca quickly improved under Lyons and he guided the team to the WPIAL Class 1A championship game three consecutive years (1998-2000), only to lose each time.
Lyons applied for vacant jobs at Butler and Highlands, but didn’t land them. “I didn’t even know where Mount Pleasant was,” Lyons said. But a friend talked him into applying for the job — and he was hired.
He was 1-9 and 2-8 in his first two seasons, but won a conference title by his sixth season.
“But I don’t look back. I live in the moment and beyond because I know the carpet can be pulled from you at any time,” Lyons said. “Every place I’ve been, I’ve taken something positive. I learned so much, especially what not to do. I admit I made mistakes, but as a young coach, it’s OK to struggle some.”
Back to Beaver County
After Mount Pleasant, Lyons then went back to his roots in Beaver County and became an assistant at New Brighton in 2008 and Freedom in 2009. Would he ever be a head coach again? Then an interesting opportunity developed. Monaca and Center high schools were going to merge to form Central Valley. Lyons wanted the job. Beaver Falls coach Ryan Matsook was one of the other finalists, but the new Central Valley school board selected Lyons.
Taking two teams with proud traditions and molding the players into one squad certainly wasn’t the easiest task. School colors from Monaca and Center were gone and suddenly Lyons had 69 players on the first day of preseason practices in 2010, wearing the new Central Valley Carolina blue.
A season that started with so much skepticism and questions ended magically. Lyons somehow pulled off the unthinkable, getting players from two teams to blend into a special unit. Central Valley became one of the biggest stories in WPIAL sports that school year, winning the WPIAL Class 3A title at Heinz Field.
“Those kids from that first class aren’t commended enough,” Lyons said. “I’m sure those kids went home after school and there were still people at the dinner table who weren’t happy with the merger because of the pride thing — and I get that. But those players from that year came every day with open eyes and no pre-judgment. A lot of them became good friends.
“I don’t want to say we were the most important thing for the merger. But we were probably the most impactful thing in the merger. Football is one of the big sports out of the shoot every school year. If we didn’t generate the excitement and bond that we did, I’m not so sure the merger would’ve been as smooth.”
The wins, titles and future
Lyons won another WPIAL title in 2014 and that team made it to a PIAA championship game. Then came two more WPIAL titles in 2019 and 2020. The 2019 team lost in the PIAA Class 3A title and last year’s team won the state championship with an undefeated record.
Along the way, Lyons has coached Division I college players. Receiver Robert Foster played at Alabama and then in the NFL and is on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad. Defensive back Jordan Whitehead played at Pitt and is a starter for the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Lyons is a sixth grade teacher at Central Valley Middle School, and when asked if he is hard to play for, he quickly answered “yes.” But he believes he has changed over the years.
“I still think there’s a place for discipline,” Lyons said. “I was probably too tough early on in my career, but I’ve kind of lightened up a little. A guy once told me that when a team wins, you need to be tough on them. When they lose, you need to learn how to build them up and pick them up.”
Under that premise, Lyons is tough on his players because Central Valley is 6-0 this season and has won 18 in a row. Lyons record at Central Valley is 116-29 and his all-time mark is 187-87. He is 31-2 since 2019 and the future is bright for Central Valley. He has a large roster this season (68 players) “and we have 45 players on the seventh and eight grade team. That’s a lot and is encouraging,” Lyons said.
An extremely competitive person who still sometimes plays pickup basketball with old friends and loves a competitive game of golf, Lyons has a team this season that is a heavy favorite to win a third consecutive WPIAL title. When it comes to winning, you can’t hide Lyons eyes.
“I’m not so sure that I enjoy the wins as much as I hate to lose,” Lyons said. “I guess that’s just the fabric I’m made of. But I think I need to step back and enjoy some of those wins more.”
There are certainly plenty of opportunities.