Veteran ACC assistant football coach Jason Swepson has been named Elon's new head football coach. The announcement came at a Jan. 10 news conference in Alumni Gym, attended by more than 300 Phoenix fans and members of the football team.
Swepson becomes the 20th head football coach in Elon history.
“We were looking for someone that’s demonstrated he’s had a positive influence and will be a positive role model for our student-athletes here at Elon University,” said Dave Blank, Elon athletics director. “And I’m really proud to say that we landed on Jason Swepson as our new football coach. From our first conversation to our conversation last night, Jason Swepson showed me and convinced me that he was the right person for this job, but most importantly, that he really wants to be Elon’s football coach.”
“We will continue to build on the success and hard work that the student-athletes have achieved over the last couple years,” Swepson said. “I’m not going to change a lot. I’m just going to build and we’re going to be successful and win championships. We will be champions in the classroom. We will be champions in the community. We will be champions on the field. Like I said last night to the team, the reason why I’m so excited is because we are already champions in the classroom and we will continue that success. We are champions in the community and we will continue that success. And now it’s my job, with the help of the staff that we will assemble and the hard work of the student-athletes, to become champions on the field. I’m looking forward to working hard and rolling up the sleeves and we’re going to have fun.”
Swepson just completed his fourth season as the running backs coach at North Carolina State University under head coach Tom O’Brien where he helped the Wolfpack to two bowl appearances, including a 23-7 win over West Virginia University in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl. This season, NC State ranked third in the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring offense, averaging 31.8 points per game, and was fourth in total offense, averaging 338.5 yards per outing.
In 2008, Swepson helped to coach Andre Brown to over 1,000 all-purpose yards and a team-leading nine touchdowns. Brown was also second on the squad in receptions and third in receiving yards. Swepson’s unit accounted for a third of NC State’s receptions that year (66 of 197) as the Wolfpack rated third in the ACC in passing.
Prior to his post at NC State, Swepson served under O’Brien at Boston College from 1999-2006 as the Eagles’ running backs coach. BC led the ACC in total offense in 2005 and was second in 2006. In each of Swepson’s first five years at BC a running back rushed for more than 1,000 yards. While there, Swepson coached the program’s all-time leading rusher in Derrick Knight as well as the nation’s second-leading rusher in 2001 – consensus first-team All-America selection William Green who carried for 1,559 yards. The Eagles made eight bowl appearances during Swepson’s tenure in Boston.
Swepson has performed internships with three different NFL programs, serving as a wide receivers intern with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1998 and as a running backs intern with both the San Diego Chargers (1999) and Miami Dolphins (2000). Swepson has experience at the FCS level as well, having coached at Northeastern University (1997-98), College of the Holy Cross (1996) and the University of Rhode Island (1993). He also coached at Boston University (1994-95) and got his first collegiate coaching opportunity at Bates College (1992).
The 1992 Boston College graduate played both running back and wide receiver for the Eagles. Swepson was a two-time winner of the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Week in 1991. Swepson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Development.
A native of Seekonk, Mass., Swepson is a member of the Seekonk Hall of Fame and was a high school All-American in both football and track. He is married to the former Tanya Sparkes. The couple has two daughters, Kiana (13) and Nadia (4), as well as a son, Payton (2).