Wingspan: Did you participate in any sports growing up? If you did, when did you start and what made you want to?
Swinnea: “Fortunately, I grew up in the 1970s, so there weren’t many youth sports to participate in. I say fortunately, because that allowed my friends and I to be kids and not ‘athletes in training’. We played plenty of sports, but the baseball, football, and basketball that we played was unorganized, and enjoyed in people’s yards or parks. We played because we loved to play, not because we were training for some nebulous and mythical future in sports.”
Wingspan: When you were growing up, did you expect that you would become a coach as an adult?
Swinnea: “No. My dad was a coach, but that was never on my radar as far as something I wanted to do. It wasn’t until college that this path became apparent.”
Wingspan: What motivated you to pursue coaching and coaching your sport specifically?
Swinnea: “I originally was majoring in international business. After my first year of college, I couldn’t see myself doing anything other than sports. It became a calling. I actually started out with the goal of being a head basketball coach because that was my favorite sport to play. However, starting as a coach in a small town school, I coached everything: football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis, and golf. Over time, I realized that my favorite sport to coach was football.”
Wingspan: What are your favorite and least favorite parts about being a coach for your specific sport? Why?
Swinnea: “I have two favorites: I love to compete, and I love the inherent comradery of being on a staff and team that is working for a common competitive goal. My least favorite is the time spent away from my family. Starting as a coach in the 1990s, you easily worked 90+ hours a week. I spent more time around other people’s kids rather than my own. I’ll never get that back.”
Wingspan: What is something that most people don’t know about coaching in general or coaching your specific sport?
Swinnea: “Football is paradoxical. It is a simple sport in the sense that it is a violent, physical, and combative activity where he who manifests those traits the best has an advantage. However, it is also very complex [and] cerebral. Scheme, execution, and the ability to make mental adjustments can make a huge difference.”
Wingspan: If you could coach or participate in another sport besides the one you currently do, what would it be and why?
Swinnea: “As a participant, I would think that underwater BB stacking would be a real challenge, particularly if done in a natural body of water such as a murky estuary or a fast-flowing white-water situation. As for coaching, I’d pick curling, hands down. No question.”
Wingspan: What is the most inspiring student athlete moment you have witnessed as a coach?
Swinnea: “We were 21-point underdogs versus Lovejoy in 2021, at their stadium, a district championship on the line, with an ESPN national audience. Sam Wenaas makes the game-saving interception in the end zone on the last play of the game. It was a storybook ending to an epic battle by everyone on that team. Just. Epic.”
Wingspan: What advice do you have for student athletes?
Swinnea: “Be where your feet are. Don’t fall victim to ‘Next Level Disease’, meaning don’t play sports because of something you think or hope or plan for in the future. Play sports because you love them, now. Play sports because you love being around others that love playing sports. Now.”
