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3 weeks after Pete Lembo left Elon for Ball State, we hired a new head coach: Jason Swepson from NC State. He has been a running backs coach at NC State and Boston College for the past 11 years. Unfortunately, he has no head coaching or coordinator experience. I'm not too happy about the lack of experience, but he seems like a young, energetic guy and I wish him the best of luck.

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I agree, a surprising selection. At the very least one might have presumed they would have followed a similar path as the hiring of former coach Lembo and at most, since Lembo's elevation of the Elon program, that a top notch coordinator or winning HC from a lower Tier FCS conference might be available that met the criteria that Elon set. Time will tell whether this was the right move or not. We at Gardner-Webb are in the midst of our own HC hiring process and we hope that we'll be pleasantly surprised in lieu of just meeting basic expectations or be disappointed. As a player parent, I have come to see in just 2 short years that college football is ever changing regarding coaching both HC and assistants. ASU's Jerry Moore said it best IMO during our recruiting visit that "if you want to play collegiate football, there is a place for you but that you should strive to pick the school that you like beyond the football aspects. There will be days that you question or dislike the football aspects but the school community as a whole will be there for you."

Good luck to Elon and let's hope my Running Bulldogs find and hire our right guy!

We followed the 'young, energetic' path with our hire of Coach Scott last year and it has worked out fine so far. Did the lack of experience show a couple times? Sure.

That said, so much about our level of football comes down to recruiting and enthusiasm. If your guy can recruit and he's enthusiastic ... the X's and O's will come.

Hiring a couple experienced Coordinators really helped us. Hopefully Swepson can do that too.

Good luck.

Nothing about this hire strikes me as odd
1. No HC or coordinator experience.
2. A RB coach on a team that's 95th in rushing in the FBS.
3. No ties to Elon, the SoCon, or the FCS.
4. No apparent experience in recruiting.

Pwns wrote:Nothing about this hire strikes me as odd
1. No HC or coordinator experience.
2. A RB coach on a team that's 95th in rushing in the FBS.
3. No ties to Elon, the SoCon, or the FCS.
4. No apparent experience in recruiting.

1. It was said that was was the second in line for OC behind OC Dana Bilba, who has been Tom O'Brien's OC for years now. He was a better grip of the offense that he is probably given credit for.
2. He was good friends with Pete Lembo and knew a surprising amount about the team and the school during his press conference (granted, he probably had time to research, but still).
3. He has plenty of experience in recruiting. He was ranked as one of the top 10 recruiters in the ACC by Rivals.com and recruited the Alamance County area regularly. He knows a lot about the area.

At first, I wasn't thrilled about the hiring but the more I think about it, the more he grows on me. I'm gonna remain hopeful and stand behind him 100%.

As an Elon alumni and supporter of athletics, I am thrilled that Jason Swepson is the new football coach. NC State's coaches, players, alumni and fans were all sorry to see him go and gave him rave reviews. They testified to his knowledge of the game, organizational ability, and handling of players. He is a players coach and known to be tough when the situation calls for it. At Elon's press conference their were almost as many folks from NC State as there were from Elon. That showing of support says alot about the strong feelings NC State has for their old coach and for our new one. Welcome Coach Swepson and go Elon.

nobie wrote:As an Elon alumni and supporter of athletics, I am thrilled that Jason Swepson is the new football coach. NC State's coaches, players, alumni and fans were all sorry to see him go and gave him rave reviews. They testified to his knowledge of the game, organizational ability, and handling of players. He is a players coach and known to be tough when the situation calls for it. At Elon's press conference their were almost as many folks from NC State as there were from Elon. That showing of support says alot about the strong feelings NC State has for their old coach and for our new one. Welcome Coach Swepson and go Elon.

Hopefully it will work out for ya'll. Welcome to the board.