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Lady Cougar Volleyball Coach

Coach SwansonPaul Swanson is entering his 25th season as the head coach of the MVNU women's volleyball program. Over the past 24 years, Swanson has led the Lady Cougars to an 834-287 overall record (.744), seven conference titles, sixteen National Christian College Athletic Association region championships, and sixteen trips to the NCCAA National Tournament. MVNU has also won 30 or more matches in each of the past fifteen seasons, topped the 40-win mark during seven of those years, and recorded 50-plus wins twice.

In 2007, Swanson guided the Lady Cougars to a 39-5 overall record and an American Mideast Conference South Division title with an 11-1 mark as he was named NAIA Region Coach of the Year.  The team finished the year ranked No. 13 in the final NAIA national poll and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time in the program's illustrious history.

Swanson has led his teams to the NAIA Region Tournament for fourteen straight seasons with the Lady Cougars advancing to the championship match six times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2007).

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 five times and named the NCCAA region Coach of the Year fifteen times including earning both honors in 2007. In addition, he was featured in Sports Illustrated in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of the October 6, 1997 issue.

In 2005, Swanson was named to the NCCAA Hall of Fame - becoming the first MVNU player or coach to be so honored.  He also became the NAIA's all-time wins leader during the 2006 season and was inducted into the MVNU Cougar Wall of Fame that year.

Swanson has developed eight NAIA All-Americans, 20 NCCAA All-Americans, one NCCAA National Player of the Year, and three conference Players of the Year during his tenure at MVNU. He has also had fourteen 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 21 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.
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