After a winless 2023 campaign, the Swansea football program needed to move in a new direction. 

Enter Willie Fox, a former Pelion and Wagener-Salley coach. Fox recognizes the history of success Swansea had but understands it has been a long time since the school reached those heights. He believes they can one day get there again. 

“Historically, Swansea's been a very good program,” Fox said. “I've always felt like if a place was once good, that it could be good again if the right things are there.” 

The Tigers football team has six state championships to its name, but the most recent came in 1994. Swansea has not had a winning season since 2014 when they went 7-5 and undefeated in region games. 

Swansea could be on its way to its first winning season since then after jumping out to a 4-1 start this season. The Tigers started the year 4-0 and picked up wins against Pelion and Wagener-Salley, Fox’s former schools. 

“I'll be honest, I'm glad that's over,” Fox said. “I've got people that I consider family in both places. It's just weird to be on the other side of the field.”

Last week, the team recorded their first loss in a low-scoring battle against Barnwell. 

“They're the best team we've played. I don't think that's a secret,” Fox said. “They're big, they're physical. I feel like they're a lot like us. They want to come right at you.” 

The Tigers can get back in the win column this week as they travel to Columbia in the team’s final game before region play. 

But what sparked Swansea’s sudden turnaround? Fox said it was many things. His players bought into his message, more playmakers are working both sides of the ball and his coaching staff has been nothing but supportive. 

“It was harder sometimes to motivate the kids after we had success for five or six years than it is to motivate a group of kids that's been losing,” Fox said. “They wanted to win. They were hungry for success, and they worked.”

Fox’s philosophy is fairly simple. He wants his teams to work hard, play physical and play together.  The team uses the acronym T.A.C.T, which stands for team, accountability, competition and toughness. 

“They've played as a team. They've held each other and themselves accountable. They've competed really hard. They showed a lot of toughness early on,” Fox said. “Our kids have just done a really good job of buying into what we're selling, and the success has been really a product of that.”

Some of the team’s key contributors this season include, D.J. Green, who plays at multiple positions on defense, William Geddis, who plays both sides of the ball, and Kasiah Harkless-Adams, who plays on both lines. 

The Tigers’ offense leans on the success of its two running backs Dante Caldwell and Teysean Charley. The pair take turns and wear down opposing defenses as games progress. 

“They'll get two or three carries and the next one comes in and gets two or three carries because we run the ball a lot, and they've done a really good job of sharing the load, showing no selfishness or anything,” Fox said. 

Retaining some coaches from the previous staff also helped make the transition smooth and allowed more kids to buy into Fox’s plan. 

“Our coaching staff has done a tremendous job,” Fox said. “They were hungry for success a lot like kids were. …  This definitely is not a one-man operation.”

Despite the early success though, the Tigers have a lot they can fix before starting region games. The team has made games a bit closer than needed because of their mistakes. If some adjustments aren’t made before region play, the success could come to a sudden halt. 

“We'll have five or six good plays, and then we'll have two or three bad plays, where we just do something bone-headed,” Fox said. “We've got to stop that if we're going to be as successful as we want to be this year.” 

The Tigers have one more game before beginning region play. This week, the team travels to Columbia before embarking on its conference journey against new regional opponents. 

While the out-of-region success is nice, it will be the games against Keenan, Silver Bluff, Fox Creek and Newberry that decide the team’s postseason chances. 

“The goal in this non-region phase is to do everything you can to get into the region season and be at your best,” Fox said. “We know that's coming down the road, and we talk to our kids about that all the time. It's coming. You lose now and it's not that big a deal. But we're trying to get as good as we can get before we get into our region.”