The sideline reacts to senior running back Trey Flowers' touchdown during a home game against Lehigh University on Oct. 9, 2021.
Credit: Sukhmani KaurAfter a not-so-great season for the Red and Blue, ending in a 3-7 overall (1-6 Ivy) record, it was time for the Penn football team to bring in reinforcements.
Earlier this week, head coach Ray Priore named Dan Swanstrom as the Quakers’ new offensive coordinator for the Penn football team.
This past season, under former offensive coordinator Kevin Morris, Penn’s offense was ranked last in the Ivy League for scoring and total yards, and second-to-last in rushing and passing.
Swanstrom’s arrival to Penn is a homecoming of sorts, as he was a staff member for two of the Quakers' Ivy League-winning teams. He was the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator for Penn from 2014-2016 before accepting a position as head coach at Ithaca College.
Swanstrom spent five years at Ithaca College and led the team to success. During his tenure, he earned the highest winning percentage for any coach that has coached more than one season. In the four seasons he coached, his record was 32-11 (.733), with eight wins in each season. He also led the Bombers to a shared Liberty League regular-season title in his first season with them.
At Penn, Swanstrom coached and oversaw Alek Torgersen, a two-time first team All-Ivy selection, who later signed with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in 2017.
Swanstrom has a long history in collegiate coaching that he will bring to the Quakers' offense. He started off at the University of Redlands from 2006-2008, where he helped them win the 2007 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He also spent six seasons at Johns Hopkins from 2008-2013, beginning as a quarterbacks coach and eventually moving up to associate head coach. While Swanstrom was at Hopkins, the Blue Jays won five Centennial Conference titles and four players were named conference player of the year under his tenure.
Additionally, he played football at Rhodes College, where he set more than a dozen school passing records, finishing his career with 7,540 passing yards and 52 touchdown passes. Moreover, he has experience internationally coaching and playing for the Darmstadt Diamonds of the German Football League.
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