THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Swanson, part of NIC's men's success, looks to do the same with NIC women

With his connections on the basketball court, George Swanson has brought some talented men’s basketball players to North Idaho College.

A lot of talented players.

Now, he’ll get his shot to see if he can do the same thing for the women’s basketball program.

SWANSON WAS named the new head women’s basketball coach at North Idaho College earlier this week after eight seasons as an assistant coach under Corey Symons with the Cardinal men’s program.

Swanson said the opportunity to run his own program again — particularly one at the same school — was "intriguing."

“NIC is somewhere where athletics are supported really well and there’s a lot of community support," said Swanson, 52. "I think we can do what we’ve done with the men’s side here as well.”

Swanson replaces Korina Baker, who served as interim coach during the conference-only 2021 season, then again in the 2021-22 season. NIC went 14-11 this past season, losing in the opening round of the Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament.

Before that, Chris Carlson led the Cardinals to 354 wins in 18 seasons, winning the NJCAA championship in 2011.

“The resources and talent is here for sure,” Swanson said. “I feel like it shouldn’t be too hard to build a champion.”

In 2016, Swanson, along with Symons and then-assistants Chris Kemp and Ameer Shamsud-din hit a deer in their vehicle on Interstate 90 west of Spokane in the early morning hours. The accident sent Swanson airborne from the vehicle.

Swanson suffered a broken pelvis, femur, scapula and multiple arm and rib fractures. He had four metal plates placed into his body and spent 16 days in the hospital before being released.

While he recovered, Swanson never thought about taking time away from the game.

“The coaching side is what got me through it,” Swanson said. “Being around the guys and the support was what pushed me each day to get better.”

Kemp is now the men’s basketball coach at NAIA Eastern Oregon in La Grande, and Shamsud-din, a former NIC player, an assistant women’s basketball coach at Division II Academy of Arts in San Francisco.

AS FOR getting those athletes here, Swanson, as the NIC men’s basketball recruiting coordinator, brought such standouts as Sam Dowd, Trey Burch-Manning, Braian Angola-Rodas, Lucas Antunez, RayQuan Evans and Nate Pryor to campus.

“Some of those guys started at other places and it didn’t work out for them,” Swanson said. “The success we’ve had with the guys we’ve had here, it’s been easy to keep it going. I’ve enjoyed it.”

Swanson and Symons played basketball together at NAIA Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash.

“We’ve know each other forever,” Swanson said. “Corey’s been instrumental in letting me be me, and had a belief that I could go get the best players. He trusted that I knew what we needed to get the program where we needed to go.”

NIC is 189-33 in the eight years since Symons took over as head coach, including a trip to the NJCAA Tournament 2016.

“It’s going to be tough losing him,” Symons said. “He’s been a huge part of our success. The leadership he has and connections he’s made have been special. He’s been a big part of what we’ve done. He’s in a good place to get to run his own program. It’s going to be good for him to start his own journey.”

Swanson has previously been a head coach at Reardan High in Washington for two seasons, as well as at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Wash.

Sam Dowd, who returned to NIC as a men’s assistant in the 2018-19 season before moving to the women’s program the past two seasons, will remain a women’s assistant.

“He’s got something about him,” Swanson said of Dowd. “We’re trying to put him on the path to success in the coaching ranks. We’re looking forward to seeing how far he can go with this.”

And if all else fails, Swanson can just walk down the hall for some help.

“We’ll still bounce ideas off each other,” Symons said. “He’ll have his hands full getting the women’s program where he wants it to be. He’s got some really good connections on the girls side too, so I’m excited to see what he can do. Having him and Sam, they’ll be perfect on that side too.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.