Bio

Gil Swalls is in his 28th year at Tampa, having joined the Spartans in 1989 as assistant AD/SID. He was promoted to associate athletic director in 1999. Since 2004, he manages the athletic department marketing efforts, which includes sponsorships, event promotions and revenue creation in addition to other associate AD duties.

At UT, he has built a sports marketing team of 45 students which has earned the university’s Outstanding Organization of the Year Award in 2012 and Most Spirited Organization in 2009 while Swalls was named Student Organization Advisor of the Year in 2006. In 2007, the group earned a NACMA national third place award for NCAA II single game promotion and in 2008 received NCAA Best in Conference for community engagement programs. He was among those who received the UT Unsung Hero award in 2003.

Swalls chairs the UT Athletic Hall of Fame, supervises the cheer, dance and mascot programs, has chaired or served on several UT athletic staff search committees, is a member of UT’s Emergency Action and Orientation committees, previously served on the UT Activity Committee, and is an adjunct professor in sports management.

He served from 2001-03 as a member of the NCAA II Baseball committee, was president of the Sports Club of Tampa Bay in 2009-10, and as a member of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce Sports Steering Committee, CoSIDA and NACMA where he served on committees. His publications have won CoSIDA awards including two “Best in Nation” at Tulsa, a national fourth place award for the 2003 Tampa Baseball Media Guide and a “Best in South” award for a personality profile on UT Swim Coach Ed Brennan.

While at UT, he has staffed several NCAA II post-season events including hosting three NCAA II Soccer Final Four Championships, and was a member of the media relations staffs for several NCAA I Championship events including the 1999 Men’s Basketball Final Four in St. Petersburg. Through his career, he has written and published hundreds of articles and publications and has been a play-by-play broadcaster on both local tv and radio.

A 1976 graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where he began his career as a sports information student assistant while majoring in radio-tv/journalism, Swalls is from Zeigler, Ill. and previously held an administrative position with the Tulsa World, (1986-89), was asst. AD at Oral Roberts (1984-86), PR Director of the USFL Oklahoma Outlaws (1983-84), SID at Tulsa (1978-83) and asst. service bureau director of the Big Ten Conference (1977-78).

Born Dec. 15, 1955, Gil is married to Cathy and they reside in Land O Lakes with their black lab, Lucy.