Elon announces Swepson hire

At a news conference this afternoon, Elon announced that it has hired N.C. State running backs coach Jason Swepson to be its head coach.

Swepson, 40, has coached running backs for four seasons for N.C. State. He also coached from 1999 to 2006 at Boston College under current Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien.

“He is a very bright, young offensive mind and has a great passion for the game,” O’Brien said in a statement. “He has done a great job recruiting for us. Jason has really done a good job of evaluating talent which shows when you find guys like Matt Ryan, among others, that he has signed for us in the past. I think he’ll do a great job at Elon and look forward to watching him grow as a football coach.”

Elon has been searching for a coach since Dec. 19, when Pete Lembo left the Phoenix to coach Ball State. Lembo was 35-22 in five seasons at Elon.

Swepson played running back and wide receiver at Boston College and coached consensus first-team All-America selection William Green with the Eagles.

Swepson is the seventh assistant coach to get a head coaching job out of the 21 assistants O’Brien has employed.

O'Brien is at the American Football Coaches Association convention in Dallas. He will begin a search for Swepson's replacement immediately.

Ken Tysiac