Robert Swank, Chamblee head coach
Today’s interviewee is Chamblee coach Robert Swank, whose team defeated Tucker 15-10 in a Region 4-5A game Friday. It was Chamblee’s first victory over Tucker since 1974. After playing a non-region schedule the past two seasons, Chamblee is 5-1 overall and 2-0 in region play, tied with Decatur for first place. Chamblee’s most recent region title came in 1982. Swank became Chamblee’s head coach in 2021 after serving two seasons as defensive coordinator.
1. What did the Tucker game mean to the program, the school and community? “We have a lot of respect for the Tucker football program. They have good coaches and tough players. They played hard, and it was a great high school football game. But I don't think it means as much to our players and coaches as it does to the Chamblee community. After the game, there were a lot of stats thrown around about the last time that Chamblee beat Tucker and other longtime accomplishments. To the players and coaches, it was just the next region game on the schedule. We needed to beat Tucker just like we needed to beat MLK the week before. The Arabia Mountain game coming up on Oct. 21 is equally important.”
2. What attracted you to the Chamblee job? What are the assets and potential of the football program? “I came to Chamblee as the defensive coordinator in 2019. Scott Schwarzer was my offensive coordinator at Duluth and took the head coaching job at Chamblee. We have a long football relationship, and there aren't many other guys that I would want to coach with than Scott. I don't think we honestly realized the potential of Chamblee when we first got here. We had 24 players in our first spring practice and went 1-9 in that first regular season. But the class of ’22 and ’23 stuck with us through the tough times and did everything that we ever asked them to do. We now have a senior class of 16, 12 of whom have been with us for all four years. Those 12 seniors have played a ton of high school football over the past four years and are a very experienced, veteran group. We have a great academic school. The facilities are excellent, and the community is very supportive of what we are doing here. We believe that 2020, 2021 and this season are no flukes and we can continue to be very successful here at Chamblee.”
3. What factors led Chamblee from going to the semifinals in 2007 to deciding not to play a region schedule in 2020, and what was your game plan to getting it back? “At the time that we made the decision to go non-region, Chamblee had been 7-52 in the previous six seasons and really had not been competitive. A large component to football success is confidence. We did not see a path for our players gaining confidence by continuing to get beat up in our region every week, so we made the decision to play a non-region schedule. First of all, we had a lot more fun. Going into every Friday night knowing that you have a chance to be competitive changes everybody's mindset. All of a sudden we had kids coming out for football from the baseball, basketball, soccer and track teams. We have improved our numbers from 24 the first spring to 85 this season. We had no idea that our players would respond so quickly to the changes in the way that we practiced, trained and our X's and O's. We got better a lot quicker than even the coaching staff expected. We went 5-1 during the COVID season and we went 9-1 last season. I do not believe that we would be in the same place as a program if we had not made the decision to go non-region.”
4. What would you want people to know about the current team? “We lost a bunch of talented players from the class of ’22, and I don't think that many people would have predicted that we would be as competitive this season. But this group of seniors are the ones who started with us as freshmen, and they are tough, committed kids who want to compete. I don't think they are surprised by our success to this point of the season. But I also don't think they are as impressed with what we have done so far this year as people outside of our program are. We have three more region games that will really decide whether we have a successful season or not.”