Sam Swinford
Southeastern Illinois College welcomed home a former Falcon, naming Sam Swinford as the school's new men's basketball head coach on May 20, 2021. As a graduate of SIC and two-year starter for the Falcons, he understands the long history and tradition that the program has and is excited to lead it in this new era.
Swinford played four years of high school basketball at nearby Marion and then signed with then-coach Dominique Taylor at SIC. Taylor left before the start of his freshman season but he went on to start every game of his two-year career and served as the team captain. He was also selected to play on the Under-19 Team USA National Team that won gold at the United World Games in Austria.
After finishing his career with the Falcons he went on to play at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, where he studied Sports Business Management. While there, he worked with the St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Sports Commission and helped work to bring major sporting events to St. Louis including the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and first rounds of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament.
Coach Swinford is a 4x AAU National Champion as a coach and program director for the SI Select based out of Marion. Through the program, he has helped over 50 players receive college basketball scholarships.
He also is the founder and director of AthElite Sports Management, which has quickly grown a reputation as one of the top hosts of basketball tournaments in the Midwest. These events annually attract more than 1,000 youth teams and thousands of players each year.
In August 2022, Swinford was the head coach of the U19 USA National Team that competed in the Costa Rica Challenge Basketball Tour.
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