While on a recruiting trip in 2004, IU women’s soccer coach Mick Lyon went for a run through the hills of England, his native country. He said he felt fine, but the next day he could hardly walk. Lyon hid the odd feelings in his legs for a month before seeking medical help. Soon after, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that affects the nervous system.\nWhat made Lyon’s case of MS atypical was that two years earlier his wife had been diagnosed with the same disease. \n“That’s extremely unusual,” said Dr. David Mattson, director for the IU School of Medicine’s Neuroimmunology/Multiple Sclerosis Program. “Occasionally people will meet because of their MS and get married, but I’ve never had a situation like that.”\nBut both Mick and Elizabeth Lyon said their cases of MS are manageable and they are lucky for it. Both have passions they said they would never let MS take away. For Elizabeth Lyon, it’s running, and for Mick, it’s coaching.\nDiagnoses don’t hold them down\nMick Lyon coached the University of Evansville women’s soccer program for nine years before coming to IU in 2002. A week after he got the job at IU, Elizabeth was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.\nElizabeth Lyon has since become a national MS ambassador. Her passion for running has pulled her through, and she has started a running club. Her “celebrate ability, not disability” mentality has helped her support her husband, and it has brought the couple closer together.\n“There are things that probably are unseen to people around us that we are very aware that are going on,” she said. “Certainly there is a sixth sense between us. He sees and feels when stuff is going on with me, and likewise.”\nMick Lyon waited from February 2004 until December of that year before telling his team about his condition. He said he needed the time to become comfortable with himself. \nLike Elizabeth, Mick’s passion made his MS seem like merely “a bump in the road.” He said his MS causes him to become fatigued over the course of the season, but he said it has not affected his passion for coaching or his ability to coach.
Coaching the team he loves\nIn his sixth season at IU, his record with the Hoosiers stands at 55-45-14, and under his direction, IU has never missed the Big Ten Tournament. When he came to Bloomington, he knew he would have to do more for the program than win.\n“I feel like when I first got here the program didn’t have a definite direction,” he said. “There was lots of talk about winning more games, winning championships, this that and the other, but there was no real focused direction that the program was going. That has been the challenge over the last five years, and this year, (it has been) getting everything that is about IU women’s soccer into a direction towards success in every department.”\nMick Lyon added that coaching can be stressful, but in a way, his MS has helped put the stress into perspective.\n“It’s like being married twice,” he said jokingly. “The stress of coaching is the fact that coaches are extremely competitive; we only want to be in one place – and that’s first. Over the years … I’ve found ways to step back and put things into perspective. I probably have less stress in my life than I used to, and certainly part of that is the MS has given me a different perspective on life.”\nSenior midfielder Katy Stewart was on the team when Mick Lyon announced his MS. She said his announcement put soccer into perspective for his players.\n“We were surprised. He plays with us a lot on the field, he’s an active guy, runs a lot,” she said. “To understand that he had something underlying that was affecting his daily life was a humbling fact for all of us.”\nSo far this season, Mick Lyon seems poised to take his Hoosier team to the NCAA tournament for the first time in his tenure. The team’s record currently stands at 12-4-2 on the strength of a 13-game unbeaten streak in the middle of the season. On the heels of the program’s first-ever undefeated schedule at home, Lyon said he is as excited as ever to be coaching at IU.\n“I was extremely excited about coming here and nothing has changed,” he said. “I love this place, I love this job and I love the team. No one could drag me away to another job. There isn’t another one I’m interested in. I have now spent more of my life in Indiana than in the United Kingdom so I pretty much consider myself a Hoosier.”
