BURBANK, IL - St. Laurence High School has announced Pat Swanson as the school’s new head football coach.

Swanson brings a combination of coaching experience from the high school and college levels to St. Laurence. Most recently, he served as the defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator at Mount Carmel High School, where he contributed to three straight IHSA 7A State Championships. Swanson also developed six Division-1 defensive players in his four years coaching at the high school level. Prior to his previous stint, Swanson climbed the college ranks, beginning his coaching career at his alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and then moving on to Division 1-FCS North Dakota University as a defensive assistant and Division 1-FBS Northern Illinois University as a defensive graduate assistant.

“I am thrilled to welcome Coach Swanson to the St. Laurence family,” said St. Laurence Athletic Director Tim Chandler. “Throughout the process, Coach Swanson met with different committees comprised of current players, St. Laurence coaches, alumni football players, staff members and administration. Every step of the way, he exhibited his incredibly high ceiling as the leader of our football program and blew our committees away with his maturity, drive and plans to take our program to the next level. He knows what it takes to build a champion, and we look forward to him doing that at St. Laurence.”

Swanson currently teaches biology/life science and coding/computer science and will have a teaching job at St. Laurence for the 2025-26 school year. As a player, Swanson was an all-conference defensive back, team captain and four-year letter winner in college. He grew up in Chicago Heights and attended Marian Catholic High School, where he played football and baseball. Swanson comes from a lineage of high school coaches in the south suburbs, as his father, Tim, coached football at Marian Catholic for 24 years, 13 of which were as defensive coordinator.

“I’d like to thank President Joe Martinez, Athletic Director Tim Chandler, Principal Kristy Kane and the entire interview committee for believing in my vision for St. Laurence Viking football,” said Swanson. “This program and school have come a long way in recent years, and there are no limits to the success we can achieve together. I look forward to building on the rich tradition of Viking football and making our players, families, alumni and the entire St. Laurence community proud.”

Swanson emerged as the top choice for the position after an exhaustive interview process with several highly qualified candidates. Among members of the interview committee were 11-year NFL veteran Tim Grunhard ‘86, former Yale football player Bob Bennett ‘86 and Illinois high school football coaching legend Frank Lenti, who currently serves as a special advisor to the St. Laurence football program. Athletic, academic and administrative leaders, along with current football players, were also part of the committee.