Peg Swadener has been named an assistant women's basketball coach at Portland State, head coach
Sherri Murrell announced Monday. Swadener, an Oregon native, spent the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach at Princeton University.
“Peg brings a wealth of coaching experience to our staff,” Murrell said. “She's well respected in the basketball community and will be an instant asset to our recruiting efforts. I'm very excited to have Peg return to her home state and help us build a championship team.”
In addition to her one season with the Tigers, Swadener has had coaching stints on the collegiate level at Boise State (1997-2002), Idaho State (2002-2003) and Oregon (2003-2006). While with the Ducks, Swadener served as the recruiting coordinator and helped coach Oregon to a 22-10 record and a second-round NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004-2005. She also served as the recruiting coordinator at Idaho State.
“I'm really excited to be able to work with Coach Murrell and be back in the Northwest,” Swadener said. “The Big Sky Conference is a great conference and Portland State is a wonderful place to be. I'm excited to get going for this upcoming season.”
Prior to coaching on the collegiate level, Swadener served as an assistant varsity coach for Marist High School in Eugene, Ore. She helped lead the school to back-to- back Oregon Class 3A state championships in 1996 and 1997.
Swadener was a four-year letterwinner in basketball at Oregon, and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Movement Science. She was a three-time All-Pacific 10 Conference academic honoree from 1991-1993. Originally a walk-on, she earned a scholarship and finished her career ranked ninth on the school's career list for three-point field goal percentage. Swadener connected on 37-percent of her career three-point attempts, making 79-of-216 attempts.
The 2007-08 season will mark Murrell's first season with the Vikings. She was named Portland State's new head coach on July 1, replacing Charity Elliott who resigned after three seasons to take the head coaching position at UC San Diego.
