For Hiram College alum Russ Swartz, there is nothing that beats Portage County basketball. The longtime boys’ basketball coach is calling it a career, having announced his resignation as the Mogadore Wildcats boys’ basketball coach on May 28.
“I don’t know if words can describe how fortunate I feel with having this opportunity over these 17 years,” Swartz told The Weekly Villager. “When we got back over here to Mogadore, the program was struggling and it is what I was known for, which was building up programs and we have done that same thing here at Mogadore.”
In 17 years as the head boys’ basketball coach at Mogadore, Swartz amassed a 288-127 record including eight league championships and three district championships. He finished as the second-winningest head coach in Portage County, with 501 career victors, only second behind revered Windham Bombers’ Coach Marty Hill, who recorded 694 victories.
“It is an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Marty of course,” the 1986 Hiram graduate noted. “It just means I did it a long time. I am very fortunate to be able to coach the kids that we have gotten to coach. We were very fortunate for those people, those kids, those players believe in the system that we had developed over the years.”
Swartz said that after his 17th year as the Wildcats boys’ basketball coach, he felt that it was time for a new voice in the locker room after Mogadore tallied a 9-14 (2-6) record this past year.
For the time being, Swartz will remain in his full-time position as Mogadore’s principal.
The 1998 inductee into the William H. Hollinger Hall of Fame attributed his love of the game to his father, who served as an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Akron Springfield. He could recall following his father to practice with his younger brother, Rod, who remains the all-time scoring leader in Hiram men’s basketball history.
After a three-year varsity career at Mogadore where he scored over 1,000 points, Swartz continued his playing career at Muskingham University before he returned to his Portage County roots after two years, joining his former Mogadore teammate John Pollock and his younger brother, who had just graduated from Mogadore, to team up at Hiram. The Wildcats’ trio propelled the Terriers to winning the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title during the 1983-84 season.
According to Swartz, he also cherished playing with his brother for two more seasons.
“We got to play one year together in high school, and we played two years together at Hiram and it was wonderful,” he said. “We both had very successful careers. We got to the NCAA Division III national tournament and those are memories that last a lifetime.”
After Swartz’s playing career ended, he began his coaching career by serving as a student-assistant under longtime Terriers’ Coach William Hollinger. He said that he had always envisioned becoming a basketball coach since his senior year at Mogadore.
“Being a student-assistant under Coach Hollinger who I had a tremendous amount of respect for when I played for him, he was just a great, caring guy and put the fun in basketball at the college level which is not always done,” he said.
Swartz moved on to being a graduate assistant under Bob Huggins at the University of Akron and spent two years with the Zips before he landed his first coaching job after he completed his master’s degree.
Swartz returned to Portage County to become the new boys’ basketball coach and physical education teacher at Southeast, where he spent six years. He then ventured outside of Portage County to take on the Norton Panthers boys’ basketball coaching job and coached the program for 14 years while also serving as athletic director, then assistant principal.
At both schools, Swartz transformed the programs into formidable teams but settled nicely into Norton. In 2007, He made another career change, opting to return to his alma matter, become the new head boys’ basketball coach and principal.
According to him, the timing just seemed right as his children were advancing through the Mogadore school district where his daughter was just entering high school.
“It was just a natural fit,” Swartz added. “I have been very fortunate. Things have worked out for my family throughout this long journey of 37 years as a high school basketball coach.”
Although Swartz only coached at two schools before Mogadore, he had developed a reputation for rebuilding basketball programs and it was no different with Mogadore, shaping the Wildcats into a powerhouse in Portage County.
“The rivalries that have developed over the years even from my playing days at Mogadore to coming back to coach 17 years ago started here,” he said. “It is outstanding.”
