Entering his 18th season, Adrian College‘s Jim Lyall is the longest tenured head football coach in the MIAA and all Michigan colleges and universities.

Four products of Lyall’s program are currently playing professional football. Defensive end Mike Lewis ’06 is starring for the Albany Conquest of the Arena2 Football League. Linebacker Taz Wallace ’07 recently participated in Detroit Lions rookie camp, while defensive back Dan McKeown ’06 and tailback T.J. Williams ’07 both play for the Muskegon Thunder of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League.

The 2007 season will be Lyall’s 34th on the sidelines at Adrian College. The University of Michigan graduate came to Adrian in 1974 as an assistant coach. He mentored the defensive line, secondary, linebackers, and served as the defensive coordinator as an AC assistant coach.

Lyall has more wins and has coached in more games that any coach in AC football history.

Over the past four seasons, Lyall has coached 35 All-MIAA players, three All-Americans, one MIAA defensive most valuable player and four academic All-Americans.

In 1997 he guided Adrian to one of its most successful seasons ever. The Bulldogs won the MIAA Championship and were ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III North Region

Lyall played defensive line from 1970-73 at the University of Michigan under the late Bo Schembechler. During that span, the Wolverines compiled a 31-1-1 record, won three Big Ten titles and made a trip to the Rose Bowl. Lyall received the ‘Champion of the Year’ award from the Michigan coaching staff as a senior.

He is a member of the American Football Coaches Association Rules Committee which reviews proposals before they are presented to the NCAA.

The Cleveland, Ohio native worked for 15 years as a special education teacher in adapted physical education before joining AC fulltime in 1990. He was named the 1989 ‘Teacher of the Year’ for the Lenawee County Intermediate School District. He has also received the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award from the Lenawee County Special Olympics and served as the director of the Special Olympics in Lenawee and Monroe County.

Lyall and his wife, Laurie, have two sons, Michael and Patrick. Michael is an assistant football coach at the University of Saint Mary (Kansas), while Patrick is a senior offensive lineman at the University of Michigan.