Lisle High School, Farmington High School

Dan has been a member of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association since 1987.  In that time, he has served the IADA on the conference committee, has been a conference presenter three times, and has served for three years as an At-Large Division Rep for the IADA Board.

Dan has been involved in education and athletics for 42 years.  Starting in 1977, he began his career at Newark High School where he taught physical education and was the assistant basketball coach and the head boys soccer coach.  In 1979, Dan was hired by Union High School as the head basketball coach and the asst. football coach; the next year, Dan was also named the head football coach.  In 1981 at Union High School, the football team played for a state title in Class 2A Football.  After a two-year stint at Warren High School, Dan moved to Farmington High School in 1984.  In 1987, Dan was named the athletic director, served 13 years in that position at Farmington, and then moved to Lisle in 2000.  Dan eventually became the athletic administrator at Lisle Senior High School, which is the position he held until his retirement in 2019.  Among the aforementioned titles and accomplishments, Dan was also named the 1A/2A State Athletic Director of the Year in 2005, was inducted into Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014, and served on the executive board of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association for four years, including serving as their President in 1997.  

Pete Meyer, the current head baseball coach at Lisle High School, said, “Dan is the epitome of an athletic director who promotes the values of athletic sportsmanship as an integral part of the educational process.  One of the many lessons that Dan has ingrained in me, every athlete and every coach in Lisle is that our job is to create better athletes, better students, better people.”

Dr. Peter Sullivan, former principal at Lisle High School, stated, “Dan was an early adopter of social media as a tool to share information about student athletes and Lisle programs with families and members of the community.  While not a tech person, he understood the need to get people where they are living.  Dan was one of the first AD’s to film and stream games. Dan was revered within the AD community as a knowledgeable and dedicated professional to whom peers often went when confronted with challenging situations. Dan Dillard was the most hands-on AD I have ever seen.”

Dan’s extensive contributions to high school athletics and his dedication to the IADA are a few of the many reasons that led to his selection as a member of the IADA Hall of Fame.