Dan Swanstrom has been named the 10th head coach for the Ithaca football program. Swanstrom will begin his appointment on Jan. 3. A former Gagliardi Trophy finalist and Division III offensive coordinator, Swanstrom was most recently quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Penn.
He replaces Mike Welch, who announced at the beginning of the 2016 season that it would be his last. Welch finished with a 169-78 record (.684), including a 5-5 mark this past season. Ithaca moves from the Empire 8 to the Liberty League next fall.
"I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Dan Swanstrom as the next head coach for Ithaca College football," said athletic director Susan Bassett. "At every stage of his career, Dan has elevated the success of the programs he is part of to championship level performances. He is committed to the scholar-athlete ideal and has proven that excellence in academics and athletics are compatible endeavors as demonstrated at two world class universities, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania."
Swanstrom, a native of Texas and 2005 graduate of Rhodes, comes to Ithaca after previous stints at Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins and Redlands.
"I would like to thank Susan Bassett and the search committee for this opportunity," said Swanstrom. "My family and I couldn't be more excited to be a part of the Ithaca College community. I truly believe that everything I have done in my personal and professional life has led me to this opportunity. Being a head coach at a top academic institution with a proud winning tradition and an unbelievable campus is everything I could have hoped for. The passion for Ithaca football was very apparent during the interviewing process and gives me great confidence in the future. I can't wait to get started."
Since 2014, he has been at Penn, which won back-to-back Ivy League championships in 2015 and 2016. Swanstrom oversaw the growth of Alek Torgersen, a two-time First-Team All-Ivy selection, to one of the greatest careers at Penn, as he is just the second signal-caller in school history to pass for more than 7,000 yards.
During his time at Hopkins from 2008-13, Swanstrom began as a quarterbacks coach and was quickly promoted to offensive coordinator and then to associate head coach. Hopkins won five Centennial Conference titles while Swanstrom was on the sidelines, and the Blue Jays averaged more than 500 yards of offense in three different seasons. Four consecutive players were named the conference's player of the year under Swanstrom's watch. Every significant offensive team record in school history was broken during his tenure as the offensive coordinator and no less than 75 individual records fell during that time.
His collegiate coaching career began at Redlands from 2006-08. He was the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach during his time there and Redlands won the 2007 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Swanstrom also coached one season as a high school coach at Stratford High School in Texas, where he coached current Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
As a student-athlete at Rhodes, Swanstrom was a two-time captain, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a Gagliardi Trophy finalist. He also played in the German Football League with the Darmstadt Diamonds after graduation.
Since 1958, only three coaches (Dick Lyon, Jim Butterfield and Mike Welch) have been at the helm of Bombers football.
"Dan Swanstrom will embrace and honor the tradition of excellence of Bomber football and lead the program to the level of competitive success that Ithaca aspires to on the field," stated Bassett. "At IC, we do things the right way, the Bomber way and I am confident that while Coach Swanstrom will bring his own style to leading the football program, he will embody the values we hold dear; integrity, respect, sportsmanship and a high work ethic."
"Dan Swanstrom emerged as the right person at this time to lead the Ithaca College football program," expressed Bassett. "Dan is a winner. He has a proven track record of success as both an athlete from his early days playing high school football in Texas, at Rhodes College as a Gagliardi Award finalist and most importantly as a coach at the University of Redlands, Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania."
Swanstrom and his wife, Kristin, have a son, Harrison (5), and daughter, Ellie (3).
A news conference will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in the Athletics and Events Center. The news conference will also be streamed on Stretch Internet.