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Whether it be
recruiting, working out with a player or going around town talking
hoops, the man now in charge of the Hutchinson Community College men’s
basketball team has sparked some new life into the program.
Hometown boy Ryan
Swanson has big plans now that he has his “dream job.”
“It’s my Kansas,
it’s my Duke,” said Swanson, who became the Blue Dragons’ 13th head
coach in 75 years on March 31, 2006.
Swanson remembers
the grand days of Blue Dragon basketball. He remembers when the Sports
Arena was packed and the entire city of Hutchinson watched every move
the team made.
He also lived it
as a player. Swanson was a redshirt on HCC’s first national
championship team in 1988.
Swanson wants to
bring that kind of energy back to Blue Dragon basketball.
“I want to pack
it,” Swanson said, referring to the Sports Arena. “Call me crazy, but
I think there’s enough people out there who are just like me and want
this place packed again.”
Swanson takes over
for Chad Wintz, who remains with the Blue Dragon family as the
program’s assistant athletic director.
Swanson is a
Hutchinson native who played at Hutchinson High School for Dan Justice
and at HCC for legendary Blue Dragon coach David Farrar. After his
playing days were over, Swanson started his coaching career as a
graduate/volunteer assistant for the Dragons in 1990.
Swanson has six
years experience as a junior college head coach, posting an overall
record of 136-57 at three different schools.
Before coming to
HCC, Swanson was a head coach at St. Catharine College in Springfield,
Ky., Marshalltown Community College in Marshalltown, Iowa, and Garden
City Community College.
“I can't tell you
how excited I am to be a Blue Dragon again,” Swanson said at his news
conference when he was introduced as coach. “It’s good to be back. I’m
very excited to get this basketball program back to the level that
other coaches have their programs at.”
Swanson comes to
HCC with an impressive resume.
His most
recent-position was as head coach at Garden City Community College
where he led the Broncbusters to their first Jayhawk West championship
in that program’s history in 2005. In his two years at Garden City,
Swanson coached one first-team NJCAA All-American and four All-Jayhawk
West players.
Swanson’s
Broncbuster teams had a two-year league record of 24-8, which was four
games better than any other team in the Jayhawk West over that span.
This past year,
Swanson worked as an account representative for Delta Enterprises and
he also operated a college basketball scouting service.
After leaving HCC
as a volunteer assistant, Swanson was an assistant at Barton County
and later landed as an assistant at St. Catharine College in
Springfield, Ky., in 1996. St. Catharine qualified for the 1997 NJCAA
Tournament. That team averaged 107.3 points per game.
Swanson took over
as head coach at St. Catharine one year later and spent three seasons,
winning 76 percent of its games playing one of the toughest schedules
in the country. Swanson left St. Catharine to take the top men's job
at Marshalltown Community College in Marshalltown, Iowa.
After one year at
Marshalltown, Swanson received an opportunity to coach at the Division
I level with Bruce Pearl at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In
2003, UWM earned its first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. Swanson
spent two seasons at UWM before taking the Garden City position in May
of 2003.
“I’ve worked very
hard for 10 years to try to prove myself and to prove that I belong
here,” Swanson said. “I realized five years ago (when Chad Wintz was
hired) that I was not ready to be the head coach here. I'm ready this
time.” |
