Ben Swank will be entering his sixth season as part of the Green Bay men's basketball coaching staff in 2020-21, having coached alongside Linc Darner throughout his Green Bay career and while the two were together at Florida Southern.
The 2019-20 season finished with another semifinals appearance with Swank's coaching help, after the Phoenix beat Oakland at home in the Quarterfinals to earn a trip to Indianapolis. The program was set to make its fourth postseason appearance in Darner's five seasons, before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all postseason tournaments. The team finished 11-7 in the Horizon League, alone in third place, winning five of its last seven games to close the regular season. Amari Davis was named Horizon League Freshman of the Year, and JayQuan McCloud was named First Team All-Horizon League and was invited to play in the 3X3U Tournament before it was canceled. Swank helped coach McCloud and Kameron Hankerson to score over 1,000 career points at GB, and the 2019-20 team ranked 4th in Division I in scoring with over 81 points per game and was 13th in assists. Swank's coaching also watched the Phoenix lead the HL in field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, turnover margin and assist-to-turnover ratio.
Swank helped guide the Phoenix to one of its most exciting seasons in program history, which saw GB advance all the way to the CIT Championship game before finishing the season 21-17 in 2018-19.
The 2018-19 team broke numerous single season program records, including the following:
- Total points (3,090)
- 3-Pointers made (303)
- Field goals made (1,106)
- Field goals attempted (2,413)
- Total rebounds (1,407)
With his recruiting and scouting talents, Swank has helped GB finish in the top four of the Horizon League standings in three out of four seasons on the bench.
In his first season on the Green Bay sidelines, Swank helped lead the Phoenix to its first NCAA Tournament bid in 20 years and lifted the trophy as the 2016 Horizon League Tournament Champions following the team's win over Wright State in Detroit for #MotorCityMadness.
In April of 2016, Swank was named to the NABC/Under Armour 30-Under-30 team, which highlights young, up-and-coming coaches across the nation. He was the only coach from the Horizon League or the state of Wisconsin to be selected to the team.
With Swank on the sidelines, Green Bay set multiple program records including points scored, steals, total rebounds, field goals made and free throws made among many others. The team ranked first in the NCAA in total steals and free throws attempted and ranked sixth in points per game.
Swank, a dual sport athlete in college, will be serving on Darner's staff for the fourth-consecutive season. In his last two seasons at Florida Southern, Swank helped the Mocs to a 62-6 record overall, two Sunshine State Conference regular season and tournament titles, and the 2015 Division II National Championship. He also spent the 2012-13 year as an assistant coach at Allegheny College.
Swank is a 2011 graduate of Edinboro University, where he graduated with a degree in health and physical education in 2011. He was a four-year lettermen in football as a free safety and played basketball for the Fighting Scots in 2011-12.
In his first season with the Mocs, Swank was part of a Moccasin team that posted a 26-5 record and captured both the regular season and postseason Sunshine State Conference Championships and advanced to the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament for the seventh consecutive year.
Swank, who was a two-sport student-athlete at Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pa., graduated with Cum Laude honors with a degree in health and physical education in 2011.
As a student-athlete with the Fighting Scots, Swank was a four-year lettermen in football as a free safety, including serving as a team captain as a junior in 2010. He was named a Second-Team Academic All-American in 2008 and was a part of an Edinboro football team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA D-II Playoffs in 2009. That 2009 Fighting Scot team finished with a 9-4 record and finished third in the PSAC.
In addition to his one season of serving as an assistant at Allegheny, Swank has also served as a counselor at numerous individual and team camps the past three years. His father, Stan Swank, just recently competed his 31st and final season as the head women's basketball coach at Edinboro University. In his successful 31 years with the Fighting Scots, Swank retired with a 581-305, making him the all-time winningest women's basketball coach in PSAC history while ranking nationally in several categories.
Swank spent the fall of 2006 as a football scholarship student-athlete at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, R.I. At the Naval Academy Prep School, Swank played football for six months, before transferring to Edinboro for the spring 2007 semester.
In September of 2016, Swank was inducted into the General McLane High School Hall of Fame for his athletic success and accomplishments during his high school career.
Swank, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education, also earned a minor in coaching at Edinboro and completed three credits as a graduate student in the Educational Leadership program at Edinboro.
