on december 12, 2012, the yuma desert rats of the independent american west baseball league, announced they had come to terms with lanier to manage the desert rats for the 2013 season, however the team folded before playing a game. on november 18, 2014, the ottawa champions of the can-am league announced that lanier would be their manager for the 2015 season. on september 17, 2016, his team beat the rockland boulders 3-1 to win 2016 league championship three games to two. in late 2018, lanier was fired by ottawa after the champions missed the playoffs in two consecutive seasons.