Paul Swanson

Paul Swanson is entering his twenty-first season as the head coach of the MVNU women's volleyball program. Over the past 20 years, Swanson has led the Lady Cougars to a 688-238 overall record (.743), six conference titles, twelve National Christian College Athletic Association district or region championships, and thirteen straight trips to the NCCAA National Tournament. MVNU has also won 30 or more matches in each of the past eleven seasons, topped the 40-win mark during six of those years, and recorded 50-plus wins twice.

In 2003, Swanson guided the Lady Cougars to a 36-10 overall record and a 12-4 American Mideast Conference South Division mark. The team also advanced to the semifinals of the NAIA Region IX Tournament. On November 14th, Swanson posted the 700th victory of his 21-year college coaching career with a win over Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) College in the AMC Tournament.

Swanson has also seen his teams advance to the NAIA Regional Tournament for ten straight seasons with the Lady Cougars advancing to the championship match in 1999, 2000, and 2001.

During the decade of the 1990s, Swanson led MVNU to an incredible 122-9 home record that included a then-NAIA record 70-match winning streak.

Swanson has been selected as the conference Coach of the Year four times and named the NCCAA district or region Coach of the Year eleven times. In addition, he was featured in Sports Illustrated in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of the October 6, 1997 issue.

Swanson has developed five NAIA All-Americans, fourteen NCCAA All-Americans, and two conference Players of the Year during his tenure at MVNU. He has also had nine NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes and one CoSIDA Academic All-American.

A native of Illinois, Swanson graduated from North Park (IL) College in 1975 after playing basketball for the Vikings. He went to West Virginia University after graduation and served as an assistant coach while working on his master's degree.

Swanson traveled to Japan and South America as a coach with Athletes in Action during the summers of 1982 and 1983 respectively before taking a head coaching position at Waynesburg (PA) College in 1983. After a 15-15 campaign at Waynesburg, Swanson came to MVNU where he has now had 17 straight winning seasons.

Swanson, who also teaches in the Physical Education Department at MVNU, resides in Mount Vernon with his wife, Susie. The couple has three sons: Casey, Brady, and Riley. In 2002, Swanson was honored as the recipient of MVNU's President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

To contact Coach Swanson, you can e-mail him at pswanson@mvnu.edu.