Katonah's Swertfager retires as the GOAT

I have always had dedicated athletes with parents and families who were willing to sacrifice time and energy for the program.”

Diane Swertfager

KATONAH, N.Y. - In today’s world of recency bias, the phrase the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), is often used incorrectly.

When it comes to Katonah resident Diane Swertfager however, the phrase is completely accurate.

She truly is the GOAT of Section 1 volleyball coaches.

Back in May, Swertfager retired after 36 years as coach of the Hendrick Hudson girls volleyball squad and her numbers are staggering. The highlight of her career was coaching the Sailors to four state titles in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2022.

Swertfager, who was inducted into the Westchester County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, finished with 695 wins, the most in Section 1 history. Her Sailors made 11 New York State Final Four appearances, winning 11 regional titles, 17 Section 1 championships, and 28 league titles.

Under her tutelage, the Sailors had 21 of their players earn the prestigious Con Edison Scholar Athlete Award.

The humble Swertfager said that the success that she enjoyed in Montrose was because of all the people involved in the program.

“My dad would say if you surround yourself with good people then good things will happen, simple but true,” Swertfager said. “I have always had dedicated athletes with parents and families who were willing to sacrifice time and energy for the program. We all deeply cared about one another. I tried to create a big family. We created traditions and tried to balance fun and a strong work ethic with my staff and players. The parents were very supportive, working fundraisers and tournaments. Each season I would create a yearbook. This consumed a lot of time, but I wanted the players to have a special keepsake of their high-school careers. We traveled to many tournaments and scheduling important scrimmages helped to challenge the team.”

One of those people who helped Swertfager keep the dynasty rolling in Montrose was her daughter, Theresa, who was an assistant coach for the Sailors. Theresa was a two-time All-State libero, New York State All-Tournament team selection, and a Section 1 volleyball champion at John Jay, where she graduated from in 2015, before going on to play softball at the University of Florida.

“As ‘T’ continued her own career, I had always hoped for the chance to work with her someday,” Swertfager said. “I’ve been blessed with many wonderful coaches over the years, but having Theresa with us from 2019 to 2021 added a special flavor of fun and charisma to the program. The players loved seeing us reverse roles, it kept them laughing while also appreciating her enthusiasm and knowledge. She has an incredible ability to balance maturity with a youthful energy that resonated with the athletes. She shared her years of playing experience and seamlessly translated it into coaching wisdom. Her sense of humor, sincerity, and kindness earned her the deep respect of the players.”

Swertfager said that she especially enjoyed watching her daughter challenge the team during drills and motivate each athlete individually.

“Her talent for strategizing and using technology with me and coach (Dina) Bertoline strengthened our scouting of other teams and prepared us well for the postseason and states,” Swertfager said. “Theresa played a key role in building the 2022 state championship team and our Gatorade Player of the Year (Amya Davis). She has truly grown with the sport. I’m proud to share that she will take on a new role as the John varsity coach this fall and even prouder to say she will be inducted into the John Jay Athletic Hall of Fame this September.”

As storied a career as Swertfager as had, she isn’t the only coaching legend in her family as her husband Bill was the former John Jay wrestling coach who will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in September.

“I spent years watching the success of the John Jay wrestling program with my husband, Bill, and experiencing the joy of both of my sons’ amazing careers,” Swertfager said. “Seeing my sons, John and Mark, go on to coach many incredibly successful seasons alongside their dad was truly the icing on the cake. Mark is now the head coach of John Jay while John and Bill run the youth developmental program.”

For Swertfager, it’s now time to focus more on her role as the Prodigy Volleyball Academy Founder/Director. The academy is located at the Prodigy Athletic Center in Somers.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision (to retire) but I now have the Prodigy Volleyball Academy to build and make it a premier club,” Swertfager said. “This new endeavor was taking up much of my time and I also needed to rethink family obligations, especially for my grandchildren. Until we settle into routines and balance our programs to meet the needs of all ages and levels of participants, I needed to give my time to Prodigy.”

While Prodigy is Swertfager’s focus now, she doesn’t rule out a return to coaching in the future.

“I doubt I will be able to stay on the sidelines for long,” Swertfager said. “Maybe I would help as an interim for programs who need a coach for a year. I have already visited teams to make some suggestions on drills and skill development. We have offered a multiple free clinic for coaches here at Prodigy. It is all about improving and growing the sport of volleyball. It has given me so much since high school and college that I chose to give back for as long as I can.”