After guiding the Coleman boys basketball program to its best season in a decade, coach Clark Swerdan is stepping after three seasons.
Under Swerdan’s leadership, the Comets posted their first winning campaign this winter since 2009-10 with a 12-9 mark and 9-5 record in Mid-State Activities Conference play. The Comets won nine of their 12 games during a 10-game stretch. The 9-5 league record also marked Coleman’s first .500 season or better since joining the MSAC.
Swerdan earned Associated Press Division 3 honorable mention coach of the year honors for his work this winter. His teams went 26-38 over three campaigns, with 23 of those wins coming over the last two years.
Despite the success, Swerdan, a Harrison High School alum, is stepping down, citing multiple factors, including the long drive he made from his home in Midland to Coleman throughout the basketball season.
“I’m looking to get a closer school to where I live and work,” Swerdan said. “Coaching at the varsity level, it’s a lot of work. I knew it was going to be more work, but it was a lot more work than I realized. So I did it for three years. And between all those factors, it was just like, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to look for a position closer to home, a lesser role.’ I’ll still put in a lot of time, but there’s just a lot of miscellaneous tasks.”
Swerdan says Coleman’s next coach will inherit a talented group of players, including a JV team that went 16-4 this past season.
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