Changes in Region 4-A: Pacelli’s Griffin, Marion County’s Swaney step down

Region 4-A football will have a different look in the coaching department next season, as two of the region’s top coaches will be leaving their programs.

Pacelli coach Alan Griffin took an athletics director and assistant principal job at White County High, and Marion County’s Mike Swaney decided it was time to retire.

Griffin spent nine years with the Vikings, the most recent one as the head coach after he replaced Randy Grace prior to the 2015 season. He said on Friday that being an assistant principal was always something he visualized himself doing, but he didn’t expect it to come along so soon. In the end, though, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“I thought it was down the road,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it to come along now. But it did. I was excited about the opportunity, and I just couldn’t pass it up.”

In one season as the Vikings head coach, Griffin led them to a 7-4 record, continuing the progress the program saw under Grace. They made the playoffs and lost in the first round.

Griffin and his wife, who is a teacher at the school, spoke to the student body to tell them of the move. He said there were tears shed on their end because of how much they cared about the Pacelli student body.

“The kids gave us hugs,” he said. “It was rough, but the kids want the best thing for my family, which is pretty spectacular. To have them tell me they were proud of me, that was real special.”

Griffin said he is excited to work with a large coaching staff and student body in White County.

“It’s a school that’s very different from what I’m used to,” he said. “It’s single-A to quad-A. I’m looking forward to learning a big school.”

Buster Connally will become the school’s interim athletics director and football coach, and Carson Hinton the assistant head football coach. Griffin said the good thing about moving on is that others within the program get an opportunity to have a bigger role, like he did when Grace left.

As for Swaney, it was a decision he came close to making around the new year. He considered retirement, but ultimately decided at the time to come back for one more season. In late March, however, he determined the time was right for him to call it a career.

“I realized I’ve been doing it 31 years, and it just became evident that it was time for me to step down and let somebody else do it,” he said. “Thirty-one years doing it is a long time. It was not an easy decision, but I’m going to be able to spend more time with my wife and my daughter, who is in eighth grade.”

He added that after his dad died nearly a year and a half ago, it will be good to have an opportunity to look after his mother.

Swaney, 54, said it is time to do something different.

“I don’t plan on doing any more coaching,” he said. “I’ll still be a part of Marion County. I’ll probably do some work with the booster club, and I’ll be out there on Friday nights every once in awhile. But this is something I’ve been planning for my whole career.”

Swaney said the toughest part was to walk away from such a good job. Over his six years as head coach at Marion County, the Eagles have gone 65-10, winning a state championship in 2013. They came close to repeating as champions in 2014, and Swaney said that probably would have been his last year if they did.

Seniors in the Class of 2015 like Lorenzo Smothers and others, though, convinced him to come back for one more year and see them through. After that, he knew it was time.

The school is searching for his replacement, and Swaney said they will likely have someone in place over the course of the next month. Swaney will be a part of the search committee that will determine who to hire.

This story was originally published April 22, 2016 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Changes in Region 4-A: Pacelli’s Griffin, Marion County’s Swaney step down."