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Monday, October 1, 2007
Swafford and Son
Central Indiana, IN
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When he was in middle school, Sam Swafford had a stint as a Noblesville ball boy while watching his father, Dan, pace the sidelines. Now, Sam is the starting quarterback for the Millers, and his dad paces the stands while watching his senior son.
Noblesville football coach Craig Barr will never forget the first time he saw Sam Swafford behind center in a Millers uniform.
“I went over to watch a freshman scrimmage and I remember a point where I was wondering what the heck he was doing,” remembers Barr, now in his ninth year at Noblesville.
Turns out Swafford, who started the season as the Millers’ starting quarterback before a shoulder injury in Week 3, knew exactly what he was doing during that freshman scrimmage. He was in the huddle and called for the snap on two, but told a lineman to ask him what the snap count was as they walked up to the line of scrimmage.
“He asked the lineman to do that, knowing the other team could hear him, and said it was on one,” continues Barr. “So next thing I knew, he drew them offside and I thought, ‘You know, I guess this kid does know what he’s doing’.”
Swafford’s father, Dan, was on Barr’s coaching staff from 2000-2004. Midway through the 2004-05 school year, Dan moved into a role in the Noblesville administration where he currently holds a position as assistant principal – thus moving him out of the coaching ranks.
Sam’s arrival on the Noblesville freshman football team played little role in Dan’s decision to stop coaching, even though he was an offensive coach and his son was a possible future quarterback. Dan was quite close to finishing his administrative licensing in the fall of ’04, when the opening came to fruition and he decided it was the best fit.
“It was something I was looking to do for a couple years,” says Dan, “and it was the best time to do it.”
Before coming to high school, Sam was no stranger to the Noblesville program. With his role as a ball boy during middle school, he learned from watching on the sidelines and being inquisitive toward his father.
“I got to see him on the field and learned quite a bit,” Sam says. “He was always the one who got to yell at the refs so I got a kick out of that – especially when the refs got mad at him.”
But Sam’s journey to the starting quarterback position didn’t come without its obstacles. He missed his entire eighth grade season with a cyst in his leg that required surgery, broke his leg in the middle of his freshman season and also broke his thumb during the sectional game last year.
One obstacle both Sam and his father are glad they didn’t have to overcome was dealing with the prospect of the coach/player and father/son relationship. Sam thinks it could have been too much.
“It’s hard to not to butt heads when football is involved,” he says. “I think we would have been fine either way, but I like it because I can just focus on the team. It helps not having him there because I don’t have to worry about him being on my back all the time, but I can talk to him at home if I need to.”
And Dad agreed, saying it would have been difficult to separate his roles as coach and father.
“I was an offensive coach and I would have been right there in the middle of it,” Dan says. “As a coach you have to watch a lot of different things and it would have been difficult.”
Dan still remains good friends with coach Barr, and their families also have a social relationship beyond football. Coach Barr said he trusts having a quarterback with a dad who understands the game and the program, but Dan promises he doesn’t get in the way.
“I don’t coach – at least I think I don’t coach – when I’m at home,” Dan says with a laugh. “But Sam and I do have some pretty good conversations about football.”
Now all Sam has to worry about is seeing his dad during the middle of the school day, which isn’t always a bad thing.
“Having him at school has its perks sometimes,” Sam admits. “If I forget my lunch money I can just go find him.”
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