Head Coach
eswanson@westga.edu
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Record at UWG: 71-94 (Three Seasons)
.430 winning percentage
Entering her fourth season at the helm of West Georgia softball, head coach Erika Swanson has completely turned around a program that used to be the doormat of the Gulf South Conference. Since Swanson came to West Georgia, her Braves have eclipsed the 20-win mark in all three seasons and have been a contender for the conference tournament in each year.
Her first year at West Georgia was a banner year, as the Braves won 21 games and made it to the Gulf South Conference tournament. In her second year, Swanson passed Judy Kirkpatrick to become the all-time winningest softball coach at West Georgia and hasnt stopped there. That year, her squad set the standard, winning a school record 29 contests.
In 2004, the Braves struggled at the plate for most of the season, but still only fell out of conference tourney contention on the final weekend of the season. Her young Braves featured four freshman starters and headed to Valdosta for a three-game series on the last weekend of conference play. The Lady Blazers spoiled Swansons bid for a second conference tourney bid by sweeping the Braves.
In 2005, with a good recruiting class, Swanson and the Braves have a solid shot of a return trip to Meridian, Mississippi and the GSC tourney.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Swanson attendd the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, where she was a four-year letterwinner. As a senior, Swanson was selected as the teams Most Valuable Player. She graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a concentration in Personnel.
After finishing her playing career, Swanson moved on to the coaching ranks, cutting her teeth as a Graduate Assistant at Eastern New Mexico University. She spent two years at ENMU, graduating with a Master of Science in Sports Administration. Her first head coaching stinit came with a struggling program at Western Oklahoma Junior College. There she took a program that had won just four games the year before she arrived to 21 wins in her final season. Each season during her three year tenure, her team broke the school record for wins.