Jim Swaney most likely envisioned his last days as Tyrone\’s girls basketball coach unfolding differently than this.
Based on years of service alone, a grand farewell tour may have seemed appropriate, with former players, parents and members of the local coaching fraternity having their time to say goodbye.
Instead, it happened more swiftly and less warmly. Swaney, who had coached the Lady Eagles for 18 seasons, turned in his resignation Wednesday after the interview process for the vacant Tyrone boys position left him feeling a lack of support from the school district\’s Board of Directors and administration.
However, Superintendent Dr. William Miller said Swaney\’s resignation had not yet come across his desk, and that he hoped the coach would reconsider.
Swaney said he interviewed for the boys position in July, but went without hearing from those involved with the hiring process for more than a month. The board voted on Tuesday to give the job to boys assistant George Gripp, who interviewed earlier that day.
“This is not because I didn\’t get the boys job,” Swaney said. “That has nothing to do with it. I know George is going to do a great job and he is a great person. But I had my eyes opened a little through the interview process. I just wish that throughout, some of the people involved could have been a little more forthcoming.\”
Swaney said that after he interviewed last month, he was approached by several people asking him about his decision to pursue the job. Not wanting his own team to find out through a third party, he sat his players down and discussed his decision.
“I can\’t go back to the kids now and say, ‘you know, I was going to leave, but now I’m back, so go play hard,’” he said. He said he felt that because the process took so long, he was painted into a corner with the girls team.
Swaney said he thought that the district may have had its own vision of where the boys program was heading from the start of the process, and that if that was the case he should have simply been told so from the start.
“After 18 years, I think I deserve that little consideration,” Swaney said. “I made a lot of calls during the process, and the whole time I received none from anyone to let me know just how it was moving along.
“My number one reason for leaving is that it\’s impossible for me – as a non-teacher – to do my job if I don’t have complete support from the board and administration. I\’m seeing now that I no longer have that. Aside from one phone call I received from a board member, no one has told me I have that support.”
Miller admitted that there may have been a communications breakdown over the last month, but insisted that the district never had an agenda before beginning the interviews.
“Mr. Gripp was away on vacation, and therefore could not make any of the earlier interview times,” he said. “On two other occasions, we tried to schedule him for an interview but it didn\’t work out. But the board made a fair decision.”
Miller said that part of the problem was the mountain of issues the district has been dealing with of late, including the opening of its newly completed middle school and new teacher hirings.
“It\’s a question of communication. It broke down somewhere,\” said Miller. “I hope personally and professionally that he pulls his resignation letter. Personally, I want him to continue here. I would hate to see him walk away. He\’s certainly respected and supported by the administration. I\’m sorry if he feels he wasn\’t communicated with through the process.”
In the end, Swaney said he had no regrets from a career that spanned parts of three decades. He took the job in 1988, and immediately transformed the program – which had qualified for the postseason just once – into a perennial contender in its conference and the District. In his sixth season in 1994, the Lady Eagles went undefeated in the Mountain League – then a stable for the District\’s top Class AAA schools – and secured the school\’s first District basketball title regardless of gender. They also advanced to the PIAA playoffs.
His teams went on to the PIAA tournament twice more in 1996 and 1997, and made it as far as the District 6 semifinals seven times. His career mark at Tyrone ended at 265 wins and 204 losses.
Swaney\’s up-tempo offensive philosophy paved the way for nine players to surpass the 1,000-career points mark during his tenure, most recently Emily McKenna, who achieved the milestone last season. Eighteen of his players went on to play college basketball on some level, four to Division I schools.
“I\’m happy with what we did,” he said. “We won a lot of games, and, sure, it would have been nice to win a few more. We won a District championship and probably could have won two others along the way. But we had some great kids in that time and that\’s what I\’ll remember the most.”
As far as coaching in the future, Swaney said he would like to take the upcoming season off and then weigh his options. He said he was not opposed to coaching again if the situation was right.
“Since I don\’t teach, everything would have to be right,” he said. “But there are still goals I would like to achieve. I always dreamed of getting to 300 wins at Tyrone, and that’s (a figure) I think is still attainable.”
Asked if he would coach at Tyrone again, Swaney said, “I don\’t see how that\’s possible now. If it ends up that I\’m wrong, then I\’m wrong. But I don\’t see how it can happen.”
