Arvid Swan continues to take the Northwestern University men's tennis program to new heights as he enters his ninth year at the helm for the Wildcats in 2015-16. He has compiled a 125-96 record in his first eight seasons in Evanston, including a 64-31 mark the last three years.
Swan has guided Northwestern to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and five overall. The first came in his second season, 2009, and the Wildcats have qualified in each year since 2012.
Northwestern posted its third straight 20-win season in 2015, going 21-10 in dual match play. The Wildcats posted the best conference mark under Swan with an 8-3 record in Big Ten play. NU reached as high as 14th in the ITA national poll.
Sam Shropshire and Strong Kirchheimer received Big Ten accolades in their sophomore seasons. Shropshire was a First Team All-Big Ten selection after a 23-13 season with a 9-1 mark in the conference. Kirchheimer led the team in wins with 25 and received Second Team All-Big Ten honors.
The 2014 season saw the Wildcats post their second-consecutive 20-win season as they notched a 21-11 record in dual match play. For his efforts, Swan was recognized as the ITA Midwest Region Coach of the Year.
Raleigh Smith earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight season while Sam Shropshire also earned first-team All-Big Ten distinction. Additionally, Shropshire was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the ITA Midwest Region Rookie Player of the Year. Both individuals earned national rankings while Smith was selected to participate in the NCAA Singles Championship. Northwestern posted a 7-4 mark in conference play and notched 10 of its overall victories over ranked opponents, advancing to the semifinal round of the Big Ten tournament and traveling to South Bend, Ind., to compete in the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats enjoyed one of the most prolific seasons in school history en route to their second straight NCAA tournament appearance in 2013. NU posted 22 dual match victories, the second most in school history and one off of the school record.
The 'Cats reached as high as No. 18 in the ITA team rankings and defeated 11 ranked opponents. Northwestern was assigned to the NCAA regional in Athens, Ga., where it rallied to defeat No. 19 Wake Forest in the opening round, giving the Wildcats their first NCAA tournament victory in 15 years. Smith and Spencer Wolf were both named first-team All-Big Ten selections, the first time NU had a pair of individuals represented on the first team since 2005. Smith also won the singles title at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and teamed with Sidarth Balaji to claim the doubles crown.
In 2012, Northwestern won 14 dual matches during the regular season and another in the Big Ten tournament against Penn State. The 'Cats collected seven wins in conference play during the regular season, their highest output since the 2001 campaign, and traveled to Durham, N.C., for the NCAA tournament.
As a team, Northwestern rose steadily up the rankings list throughout the season. After winning four straight matches to open the season, Swan's squad debuted at No. 65 on January 24. When the season's final listing was released on May 29, the Wildcats checked in at No. 42, the best mark of the season.
Individually, Swan helped protégés Wolf and Josh Graves, who were unranked at the time as a doubles team, knock off Ohio State's Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola, 8-6, when the teams got together in Columbus, Ohio, on April 15. Buchanan and Rola were the top-ranked doubles team in the country entering that match and they would go on to win the NCAA Doubles Championship in Athens, Ga., on May 23.
As a team, Northwestern rose steadily up the rankings list throughout the season. After winning four straight matches to open the season, Swan's squad debuted at No. 65 on January 24. When the season's final listing was released on May 29, the Wildcats checked in at No. 42, the best mark of the season.
In 2009-10, Swan helped Northwestern achieve its highest ranking in five seasons (No. 36) when the Wildcats upset then-No. 18 Alabama, 4-3, on Jan. 22.
In his second season, Swan guided a team that finished the 2008 season unranked and last in the Big Ten to a 2009 year-end ranking of No. 46 in the nation and a tie for fourth in the Big Ten regular season standings with a 6-4 league mark. The team improved from 7-17 to 18-9 in just one year and enjoyed the highest jump in the national rankings over a one-year period (as high as No. 42) of any team in Division I, the second time in Swan's career that his team has earned that distinction.
Swan has done tremendous work on the recruiting front for the Wildcats, building a foundation that will reap benefits for years to come. Swan's first recruiting class was deemed No. 12 in the nation by tennisrecruiting.net and he followed it up with a 2010 recruiting class ranked No. 8, a mark that was matched in 2013.
Swan came to Northwestern after one year as the head men's tennis coach at DePaul University. While at DePaul, Swan improved the team immensely. On the heels of an 8-14 season, Swan's Blue Demons finished the 2006-07 season with an 18-7 record and reached a ranking as high as No. 58 in the nation.
Prior to taking the position as head coach at DePaul, Swan served as associate head coach at NU from 2003-06. While at NU, Swan helped take the program consistently improve as the Wildcats jumped from sixth in the Big Ten to back-to-back fourth-place conference finishes. He also helped lead the team to a top-40 national ranking twice. In 2004 and 2005, the 'Cats reached the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. They also made an appearance in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
In his playing days, Swan was world-ranked professionally in singles and doubles before moving into the coaching ranks. While at Michigan, Swan was the recipient of the Scholar-Athlete award in 1995 and earned his way onto three Academic All-Big teams from 1996-98. In 1996, Swan was elected to the All-Big Ten team as the Wolverines went on to win the Big Ten championship. Swan captained the squad until his graduation in 1998.