Matt Swanson named head coach of the Trion Lady Bulldogs Basketball team

The past few seasons of basketball have been building years for the Trion Lady Bulldogs Team. This year, however, has been significant due to the induction of new head coach Matt Swanson.

Coach Swanson has been in education for 27 years and has taught special education throughout his entire career. This is the 26th season he has been on the sidelines coaching basketball, and the 23rd year he has coached girls’ basketball. Season’s extensive coaching experience started off at Lafayette High School, where he assisted the legendary Coach Craig Parrott. Parrott won a state championship with Chattooga High School and coached at the collegiate level for 10 years at UT. After three seasons of learning and building experience under Coach Parrot, Swanson left LaFayette and returned to his former coach, Jay Williams, at Northwest Whitfield High School. Later, In 2002, Swanson returned to Walker County, where he began as the head coach for boys and girls basketball at LaFayette Middle School. After one season at the middle school, he was promoted to be the head coach of the varsity girls at LaFayette High School, where he stayed for 10 seasons. During his stint at LaFayette, he collected an astounding 120 wins. His best season was in 2007, when he earned an 18-5 overall record and won the sub-region championship with a 10-0 record.

Eventually, in 2017, Swanson moved on from LaFayette and accepted the role of athletic director and head girls coach at Gordon Central High School. Before Coach Swanson, the girls’ basketball program at Gordon Central had never earned the opportunity to advance to the state playoffs, but with the mentorship he provided, the team appeared in their first playoff game in the 2017-2018 season. Swanson led the team to the state playoffs all four years that he served as head coach for Gordon Central, which he states is “a testament to great players, great assistants, and hard work”.

His final year at Gordon Central came to an end in 2021 when he was offered the chance to assist Coach Garrett Brown at Trion High School. This is Swanson’s 4th year on the Hill, where he has touched numerous sports programs. He has served as: assistant girls basketball coach, assistant volleyball coach, assistant middle school football coach, and, for the past 3 years, he has been  head middle school baseball coach.  Swanson is more than happy to be such an involved member of Trion Athletics, stating, “ Trion is a special place that I am blessed to be a part of”.

Apart from coaching, Coach Swanson is married to his wife of 26 years, Kesha Swanson, who is also a long-time educator. Mrs. Swanson is in her 29th year of teaching at Gilbert Elementary School. Together they have two sons, Landon, who is 23 and also teaches at Gilbert Elementary School, and Hayden, who is 21 and is working toward a degree in education at GNTC. Hayden subs at Trion High School and assists Coach Swanson with the girls’ basketball team.

Coach Swanson could not be happier to have assumed the new position of head coach for girls basketball at Trion, reporting, “I am blessed to be the head girls coach at Trion. Serving the past 3 years as an assistant was a great experience, but I definitely had a different role. I believe the season is going great. We are very young and gaining experience every day. I coach an awesome group of girls that makes my job rewarding.”

As for this season, the team is adapting to having a new coach very well and embracing Coach Swanson as head coach after playing under him as an assistant coach for the last few years. Senior Starter, Molly Nicholson, said,  “ With Coach Swanson as our head coach, our team chemistry has improved and our work ethic has increased, which ultimately has made us a more successful team.”

Congratulations to Coach Swanson and the growing team he is coaching!