Steve Swanson returned to the U.S. Soccer coaching ranks during the summer of 2011 to head the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team program. From 2000-02, Swanson was the head coach of the U.S. U-16 Girls’ National Team and the U.S. U-18 Women’s National Team. In recent years he has served as an assistant coach with the U-17, U-18 and U-20 Women’s National Teams.

Swanson has spent 21 seasons as a head coach in the college ranks, including the last 11 at the University of Virginia, where he coached numerous full and youth women’s national team players. Swanson has led his teams to five conference championships, 16 NCAA Tournament appearances and 20 consecutive winning seasons.

Swanson came to Virginia after two highly successful stops at Stanford and Dartmouth. At Dartmouth, Swanson guided the Big Green to national prominence. He did an equally impressive job at Stanford, helping maintain the program's standing as one of the premier teams in the country while leading the Cardinal to two Pac-10 titles in four seasons. In 2004, he led Virginia to the first ACC Championship in school history, making him the only coach in Division I history to win titles in three different conferences.

In his 11 seasons as head coach of Virginia’s women's soccer team, Swanson has a record of 153-61-31 giving him the highest winning percentage in the history of the program.

During his four seasons at Stanford, Swanson guided the Cardinal to an overall record of 48-27-4, two Pac-10 championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1999 he was honored as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

Prior to serving as Stanford's head coach, Swanson served as both the head women's soccer coach and assistant director of athletics at Dartmouth College from 1990-1995. During his years at Dartmouth, he transformed the Big Green into a national contender with an overall record of 55-35-7 (.603). Under his guidance, Dartmouth made its first two NCAA Tournament appearances in school history (1993, 1994) and won its first two Ivy League Championships in school history (1991, 1993). During his last three years at the helm, the Big Green was ranked in the year-end top 20.

Swanson has coached 18 All-Americans, eight conference players of the year and 71 all-conference selections. Of his former players at Dartmouth, Stanford and Virginia, 24 have played professionally in the WUSA or WPS. In 2002, Swanson became the third coach to win at least 40 games with three different NCAA Division I women's soccer programs.

Swanson holds an ‘A' license from the United States Soccer Federation and earned a master's degree in physical education (athletic administration and coaching) from the University of Iowa in 1989.

A graduate of Michigan State in 1984, Swanson played professionally in the United States and Canada for four years before returning to school to obtain his master's degree at Iowa. He played more than 150 consecutive games in stints with the Milwaukee Wave and the Chicago Shoccers of the American Indoor Soccer Association, and with AC Roma and the Windsor Wheels in the National Soccer League of Canada (NSLC). While at Michigan State, Swanson was a four-year letter-winner in soccer. He was the team's leading scorer, captain and a regional All-American his senior year.