May 12, 2003

MILWAUKEE - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee assistant coach Ryan Swanson has accepted the position of head men's basketball coach at Garden City Community College in Kansas.

Swanson, a native of Hutchinson, Kan., spent the past two seasons as an assistant at UWM. Prior to that, Swanson was the head coach at Marshalltown Community College in Iowa and St. Catharine Junior College in Kentucky. He compiled a 92-37 record as a head coach.

"We're very happy for Ryan. He grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas, and played for that storied program," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said. "It's an opportunity to be a head coach in one of the finest junior-college leagues in the country and to go home. It was an opportunity too good to pass up."

During Swanson's two years at UWM, the Panthers won 40 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

A national search for Swanson's replacement will begin immediately.