Dan was hired as a teacher and coach at Crater High School in 1974.  He was the head wrestling coach at Crater High from 1974 to 1985 and in the process took the Crater wrestling program from the back of the class to a state contender. His coaching philosophy was simple, aligned around intense hard work, pushing his athletes to be in better shape than their opponents and he focused on competing at the highest level possible, believing that this was the only way to improve. 

In addition to his physical education and health teaching and wrestling coaching duties, Dan was an assistant coach in football and baseball from 1975 to 1979.  He was the girls’ cross-country coach in 1979 and then the head boys’ cross-country coach from 1988 to 1992.   In 1990, Dan took the job as career counselor at Crater. During his tenure as the Career Counselor he was one of the founding members of the Crater Foundation and developed the rating system that is still used for the awarding of scholarships.

He even found time to lead the construction of the field house/wrestling project for Hanby Middle School. Never one to rest easy, in 1997 Dan became the Athletic Director for Crater, a position he held until his retirement in 2004. During the time as AD, he was instrumental in the development of the soccer fields and JV baseball field on Upton Road with no cost to the District, utilizing his many contacts with Jackson County residents and businesses for in-kind services and cash donations.  But wait, there is more. After leaving Crater he was hired as the interim Athletic Director at his alma mater, Southern Oregon University, a position he held for one year.  Dan has been voted into the Southern Oregon University Athletic Hall of Fame, the Oregon Athletic Directors Hall of Fames, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s “Lifetime Service to Wrestling” award and the Crater High School Athletic Hall of Fame.