2014 East Division Regular Season ChampionDan Shwam, Head Coach
In Dan Shwam, the Red Wings have one of the most experienced bench bosses in the country. With him, he brings over 30 years of coaching and managerial experience and five professional championships. Throughout his 21 seasons in indy ball – 16 as a manager – he built a legacy as one of independent baseball’s all-time winningest skippers with over 650 victories.
Most recently, the Salt Lake City, Utah, resident spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons as head coach of the Victor RailRiders. In the club’s inaugural season, he guided the RailRiders to a West Division Championship and a berth in the PGCBL Championship Series. As a result, he was crowned the 2015 PGCBL Coach of the Year. Last summer under Shwam’s tutelage, Victor ace Brennen Smith (Canisius) paced the league with 52 strikeouts and earned co-PGCBL Pitcher of the Year honors.
It was the second time that Shwam coached a player to the PGCBL’s Pitcher of the Year award. Prior to joining the RailRiders, he spent the 2013 season at the helm of the Cooperstown Hawkeyes, where his work with Eann Cox (Black Hawk College) helped the Hawkeye hurler garner the year-end accolade.
Before his time in Cooperstown, Shwam served as head coach of the Elmira Pioneers for three seasons, beginning in 2010. That year, he was named the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) Coach of the Year after leading Elmira to a West Division pennant. It was his second stint at Dunn Field, as the veteran manager spent three of his professional seasons with the independent Elmira Pioneers of the Northeast League from 1997 to 1999. In his first season, Shwam guided the Pios to the Northeast League championship.
His other championships came in 2003 with the Jackson Senators of the Central League and in his final professional season in 2009 with the Alexandria Aces of the Continental Baseball League. Shwam’s coaching career began as an assistant with the Salt Lake City Trappers in 1987, the year the franchise established a professional baseball record with 29 consecutive wins, known famously as “The Streak.” During his five seasons with the Trappers, the independent minor league team captured two Pioneer League titles.
