Austin Swafford - Golf Coach

Photo by: UT Martin Sports Information

Austin Swafford

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
aswaffo9@utm.edu
Phone:
731-881-7665

Former All-Ohio Valley Conference honoree Austin Swafford is in his seventh season as head golf coach at his alma mater in 2026-27.

Swafford presided over a pair of OVC championship squads in his first two seasons as a collegiate head coach and has also coached a pair of OVC medalists in Jack Story (2021) and Jonathan Xoinis (2025). He has played a major factor in all three OVC championships in University of Tennessee at Martin history (2021 and 2022 as head coach, 2016 as a student-athlete).

Overall, the Skyhawks won nearly half of their tournaments (10 of 21) in Swafford's first two seasons and added another tournament victory in 2023-24. UT Martin has finished third or better in the OVC Championships five times in six seasons under Swafford and never placed below fifth during his tenure, advancing to the match-play portion of the tournament four times since the league changed to its Final Four format five years ago.

Last season, the Skyhawks equaled a program record with three All-OVC honorees in Luke Caldwell (first team), Drew Williams (second team) and Grant Phillips (second team). That trio each ranked in the top-eight in the OVC in stroke average and also combined for four OVC Golfer of the Week accolades. Caldwell and Phillips also nabbed 2026 OVC All-Tournament honors.

UT Martin collected a 107-52-2 head-to-head record in 2025-26, including a 32-10 mark against OVC competition. The Skyhawks ranked second in the league in scoring average (287.7) and posted seven top-5 tournament finishes for the second consecutive season. Individually, Phillips won medalist honors at the Austin Peay Intercollegiate (208, -8 on March 23-24) while John-Gregory Wilson equaled the program's best single round score (62, previously set on April 5, 2010) during Round 2 of the Grover Page Classic on Sept. 15.

Off the course, UT Martin won the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award for the 10th time (third time in Swafford's head coaching tenure) in the 21-year history of the accolade. That marks six more than any other OVC golf institution and is tied for the most by any school/sport in league history. The Skyhawks also combined for a 3.52 team Grade Point Average in 2025-26, earning the PLATFORM Golf Team Academic Presidents Special Recognition Award for only the fourth time in program history.

The 2024-25 campaign was another successful one as UT Martin made its second appearance in the OVC Championship match play finals - narrowly falling to top-50 Little Rock by a 3-2 margin. That came after Xoinis carded a 210 (-6) in stroke play to become the program's fourth different OVC medalist, advancing to the NCAA Regional held in Auburn, Ala.

The Skyhawks tied for the most single-season OVC Golfer of the Week award winners in school history (four) and boasted the program's first-ever All-OVC first teamer in Jackson Twerdahl in 2024-25. UT Martin also had three separate players win a tournament (Twerdahl, Xoinis, Phillips) as part of eight different Skyhawks earning a top-10 tournament finish last season. UT Martin collected seven top-five team tournament finishes in 2024-25, including runner-up finishes in each of its final three events.

Academically, the Skyhawks owned a 3.47 team GPA in 2024-25 and produced one of just three OVC Male Scholar-Athletes in Xoinis.

In 2023-24, UT Martin advanced to the OVC Championship match play semifinals after finishing third in the 54-hole stroke play tournament. The Skyhawks shattered the 20-year Grover Page Classic team scoring record (841, -23), carding a school-record seven eagles in the opening round at Jackson Country Club. The following week at the SIUE Dolenc Invitational, UT Martin shot a 266 (-18) in Round 1, which was three strokes better than the previous low score in the 12-year history of the tournament and was the best round in the Skyhawks' NCAA Division I history (since 1992). UT Martin followed that with an 846 (-16) at the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate to finish a whopping 62-under par over a three-tournament span in the fall.

Individually, Dax Isbell earned All-OVC and OVC All-Tournament accolades in 2023-24, also rewriting the SIUE Dolenc Invitational record book for best cumulative score (197, -16) and best single-round performance (64 in Round 3) on the way to medalist honors. He became the first Skyhawk to win a tournament since Tate Chumley in the 2021 TVA Community Credit Union Invitational and posted the first sub-200 score for a UT Martin golfer since Jack Story at the 2019 Murray State Invitational. He was named OVC Golfer of the Week three times while his teammate Xoinis also nabbed that award to give the Skyhawks four winners of that accolade for the 2023-24 campaign.

As a team, UT Martin received the Golf Coaches Association of America Outstanding Team Academic Presidents Special Recognition Award and the OVC's Team Academic Achievement Award for the sport of golf with a sterling 3.55 team Grade Point Average. The Skyhawks were also one of just 25 NCAA Division I institutions to boast at least five GCAA Cobalt Golf All-America Scholars for the 2023-24 season.

In 2022-23, UT Martin produced yet another OVC All-Newcomer in Isbell while also generating a pair of OVC Golfers of the Week (Bryson Morrell on Sept. 21, Ethan Ray on April 20).

UT Martin earned its second of back-to-back OVC championships in 2021-22 after winning the new match play format of the OVC Championships, held at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Skyhawks earned the No. 2 seed in the four-team match play field following 54 holes of stroke play before defeating Morehead State (semifinals) and Tennessee Tech (finals) by identical 3-2 margins in match play. As a result of their fifth tournament victory of the season, UT Martin was assigned to the NCAA Regional held in Norman, Okla.

The Skyhawks boasted four OVC postseason honorees in 2021-22, landing a pair of honorees on the All-OVC squad (Tate Chumley, Morrell) and two more recipients on the All-OVC Newcomer squad (Garrett Chumley, Xoinis). UT Martin also combined for four OVC Golfer of the Week awards - including a pair from Garrett Chumley (who became just the second freshman in Skyhawk history to win that accolade multiple times in a single season).

UT Martin also won the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award in 2021-22, marking the eighth consecutive year for the program to receive that award and the ninth time in the last decade (both OVC records).

The 2020-21 campaign proved to be a historic one for Swafford and the Skyhawks as the program claimed its second OVC championship. UT Martin shot its best 54-hole OVC Championship score in school history, carding an 861 (-3) for the tournament for a two-stroke victory in Muscle Shoals, Ala. The victory advanced the Skyhawks to the NCAA Regional, held in Noblesville, Ind.

In addition to its team championship, UT Martin also produced the OVC's individual medalist in Story. The senior posted three consecutive 68's on his way to a 204 (-12), which is tied with two others for the best 54-hole score in OVC Championship history. Story became only the third Skyhawk to capture OVC medalist accolades, joining Brendon Caballero (2015) and Hunter Richardson (2016-17).

Swafford's debut season brought many accolades to the UT Martin program. At the time as the nation's second-youngest NCAA Division I men's golf head coach, Swafford was voted by his peers as OVC Coach of the Year, joining Eastern Kentucky's Pat Stephens as the only men to garner both an All-OVC mention as a student-athlete and an OVC Coach of the Year honor. He also became just the fourth person (first since 1984) to earn OVC Coach of the Year accolades in his first season at the helm. The Skyhawks' 288.3 stroke average in 2020-21 led the OVC as UT Martin won five tournaments and finished as runner-up in another.

The Skyhawks accounted for three of the league's 10 All-OVC honorees (Nick Wolf, Tate Chumley, Story). Wolf would also go on to claim Golf Coaches Association of America PING All-East Region accolades as he was one of just 26 golfers (and two in the OVC) to earn that prestigious honor.

Additionally, UT Martin was one of only 41 NCAA Division I squads to nab the prestigious GCAA Presidents Special Recognition Award (at least a 3.5 team GPA) for academic success in 2020-21. The Skyhawks also won their first ever OVC Team Academic Achievement Award, producing the highest percentage of student-athletes with at least a 3.25 GPA out of any other conference school in their sport.

In Swafford's tenure as UT Martin head coach, there have been 15 players who have combined for 16 All-America Scholar Awards by the Golf Coaches Association of America. That list includes Jacob Uehlein (four times), Caldwell (three), Morrell (twice), Xoinis (twice), Tate Chumley (twice), Ray (twice), Ross Redmont, Story, Wolf, Peyton Dix, Isbell, Twerdahl, Phillips, Williams and Wilson.

Swafford transitioned into the role of head coach after serving as UT Martin's lead assistant during the 2019-20 campaign. Although the season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was one of the program's finest seasons. UT Martin won four consecutive tournaments for the first time in school history to close out the fall campaign. Overall, the Skyhawks won five of their nine tournaments and finished as runner-up in two more events - finishing tied for first in the OVC with a 286.2 scoring average.

A school record four UT Martin representatives racked up OVC golf accolades (three All-OVC, one All-OVC Newcomer) while Story was named UT Martin's Bob Carroll Male Athlete of the Year in 2019-20. The Skyhawks also accounted for four OVC Golfers of the Week, two OVC Golfers of the Month (the first two in school history) and set a new team record with a 3.75 Grade Point Average for the Spring 2020 semester.

During the 2018-19 campaign, Swafford closely worked with Redmont, who became only the ninth golfer in program history to achieve All-OVC status. That season, Redmont ranked third in the league in stroke average (72.0), just 0.3 shots behind the leader.

In 2017-18, Swafford assisted with a UT Martin program that ranked second in the OVC in stroke average (291.6) - just 0.1 strokes off the league lead. The Skyhawks captured four tournament titles in 2017-18, including three straight victories in the month of October.

A four-year starter for head coach Jerry Carpenter, Swafford became just the seventh golfer in UT Martin history to garner All-OVC honors when he accomplished that feat as a senior in 2016-17. He ranked eighth in the conference with a 73.2 scoring average while nabbing five top-six tournament finishes. That came after a 2016 campaign where he helped the Skyhawks tally their first-ever OVC championship, as UT Martin took part in the NCAA Franklin Regional hosted by Vanderbilt University.

In 2013-14, Swafford was named OVC Freshman of the Year - becoming just the second player in school history to earn that title.

In July of 2017, Swafford was named a Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar by the Golf Coaches Association of America. He was one of just 260 Division-I golfers and 10 OVC honorees to earn the prestigious award. He accumulated a combined 3.45 overall Grade Point Average over his four-year academic career and received OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll accolades in each of his first three seasons as a Skyhawk.

A Gallatin, Tenn. native, Swafford is married to the former Kristen Hutcherson from Jackson, Tenn. The couple has one daughter. He graduated from UT Martin in 2017 with a degree in finance and later earned his Master's degree from UT Martin in 2019.