Mr. Daniel Christoffer, also known as Dan, the man who is an amazing person and ex trainer, now is the Mayo High School Athletic Director. What’s with the change? Was it because of the people, players, job title, more money?
Born and raised in Lansing, Iowa, in the northeast corner of the state, Mr. Christoffer pursued his college education at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in athletic training and a minor in coaching. After that, he went from there to get his master’s degree at the University of South Dakota, earning it in Athletic Administration, which fits in well with what he’s doing now. Then at the University of South Dakota, he earned his doctorate in higher education.
Did you know that Dan was an athletic trainer for the Dodgers? Mr. Christoffer worked with the Dodgers for four years in California. It was with that team that he had some of his most memorable years. He was part of a great staff made up of former MLB players, and “it was a lot of fun.” He met many famous people. It was a great experience.
The change from trainer to athletic director wasn’t a hard choice for him, but it wasn’t for the reason you think. Truthfully, he’s getting older, that’s part of the piece of the puzzle. He admits that getting older and the physical demands of being an athletic trainer, made him consider the fact that it would be more difficult as he aged, but most importantly, he thinks the reason he made the change was that he wanted a new challenge in his life. He believed that this could be where he could still be heavily involved in helping sports teams and athletes here at Mayo High School, which is very important to him.
Christoffer has enjoyed being the athletic trainer here for the last 13 years; “it’s a special and unique place, and we have a lot of great people here, so this was the one job that attracted me.” He wasn’t interested in other administrative positions. He wants to lead Mayo High School, and he wants to help the student-athletes find success on and off the field.
