Former Ravens mentor to take over at California University of Pennsylvania after seven seasons at Franklin Pierce helm

RINDGE, N.H. (June 4, 2009) - Franklin Pierce University has accepted the resignation of women's basketball head coach Mark Swasey, who has been named the head coach at California University of Pennsylvania. The announcement was made this morning by Bruce Kirsh, Vice President and Director of Athletics at Franklin Pierce. His appointment as head women's basketball coach at California (Pa.) is being announced today by that University.

"Coach Swasey's departure from Franklin Pierce is a significant loss," said Kirsh. "Over the course of the last seven years he has rebuilt the women's basketball program to a standard which it has never experienced before. Mark's teams not only had significant success on the court, but his players also achieve outstanding success in the classroom. The University will always be grateful for him leading the women's basketball team to two Elite Eight appearances and I wish him and his family the best of luck in the future."

Swasey departs Franklin Pierce following a period of unprecedented success for the women's basketball program. He led the Ravens to a 124-85 (.593) record over seven seasons, including an 89-37 (.706) mark in the last four years. Swasey owns a career record of 180-111 (.619) in ten seasons which includes three years at Norwich University in Vermont prior to taking over at Franklin Pierce.

"While this is an exciting time for me and my family, this has not been an easy decision to make," said Swasey. "I am extremely grateful to Bruce Kirsh, all my players, coach (Steve) Hancock and coach (David) Chadbourne for all of the support, commitment and dedication they have shown me over the last seven years. My coaching successes at Franklin Pierce would not have happened without the people I've been so fortunate to be around, building the women's program at Franklin Pierce into a national power. I am confident that this program will find continued success and I wish the entire athletic program at University as a whole the best of luck in the future."

Franklin Pierce has earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in the last two years, surpassing the program record for victories in each term and capturing two-straight NCAA Regional Championships and trips to the Division II Elite Eight. This past season the Ravens won a record 29 games en route to capturing the Northeast-10 Conference regular season and tournament titles for the first time each on their way to the program's first ever appearance in the Division II title game. Franklin Pierce opened the Elite Eight with an 88-73 victory over California (Pa.) in the national quarterfinals before dropping a 103-94 decision to Minnesota State University-Mankato in the highest scoring national final in Division II history.

The 2008-09 Northeast-10 and Russell Athletic/WBCA East Region Coach of the Year, Swasey took over a program with a rich history, but had fallen on tough times and turned it back into an NE-10, regional and national contender. He leaves the University ranked second all-time in program history with his 124 victories, leading Franklin Pierce to Northeast-10 Tournament appearances in six of his seven seasons. The Ravens matched a program-best 18-4 clip this past winter to capture the program's first regular season championship since joining the NE-10 prior to the 2000-01 season. The top-seeded Ravens went on to win their first NE-10 Tournament title with a 93-81 triumph over Bentley University in the final. Franklin Pierce posted an 81-73 (.526) record in NE-10 play over his seven seasons, but were 49-17 (.742) in Conference play over the last three years.

Swasey led Franklin Pierce to an 8-2 (.800) record in two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009. The Ravens captured their first regional title in program history in 2008 after posting an 88-71 triumph at top-seeded and previously undefeated Holy Family University, ranked fourth nationally, in the regional final. The team also captured the 2006 ECAC Division II Championship - the program's first postseason championship since the 1991-92 season.

Franklin Pierce has also performed in the classroom as the team was ranked 21^st in the 2007-08 WBCA Division II Academic Top 25 with a 3.399 cumulative team grade point average. Five Ravens earned NE-10 All-Academic honors since the program was initiated in 2004-05, while three have earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors from CoSIDA. The team also earned the athletic department's team academic award for having the top team GPA of any women's program at the University for the 2007-08 academic year.

A search for Swasey's replacement will begin immediately.