BYU’s Marc Lyons Talks Rivalry, Retirement

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Saturday’s BYU-Utah rivalry game will be the last one for longtime BYU Football radio color analyst Marc Lyons.

Lyons played quarterback for the Cougars from 1965-1969. He first appeared on radio broadcasts September 6, 1980 at New Mexico with Paul James. Since 2001 he has worked with Greg Wrubell as the voice of the Cougars.

Lyons has contributed on approximately 470 sportscasts over 38 seasons.

He remembers his first broadcast with James.

“Just before the game he said he wasn’t going to let me say anything until I had something worthwhile to say,” said Lyons.

This week Lyons came to KSL’s studios to talk about his career, about football, and about this weekend’s rivalry game.

We asked him what BYU needed to do against Utah on Saturday, November 24th.

“They’ve got to get a better start than letting 14 points in the first quarter,” he said.

Lyons says it has always been a good rivalry.

“These players, so many of them know each other, they have played each other around the state, they are familiar with the rivalry. It’s interesting how some of them at BYU would have liked to be at Utah and some of them at Utah would have liked to be at BYU,” said Lyons.

When it comes to the game in general, Lyons says he has always been and will always be a fan.

“I really like the skills of the players, and I like seeing how they run and catch the football. But I also really like the hard hits,” he admitted.

Greg Wrubell, Marc Lyons and Bronco Mendenhall September 2015 (Elora Grant/IMG College)

BYU honored Lyons during the last home game of the season on Saturday, November 17th. He was one of the flag bearers in the beginning, and there was a special program at half-time at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

“Three of my old teammates came up this last weekend, to celebrate my last home broadcast. It was really fun. We talked about, ‘Can you believe it? We played on that football field. We were college football players,” he said. He added that he owes everything to BYU – a teammate baptized him into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he met his wife there.

Now he says he looks forward to simply being a fan in the stands, and sitting with his family for the first time for a game. Though he teased Wrubell last week on the air maybe in the future he could call in with the post-game trivia answers and win the ice cream prize.

BYU announced in August that 2018 would be the last season for Lyons.