Tiffany Swoffard signed on for her first season with the Bears in the summer of 2010.

Swoffard played under Gardner for four seasons at Austin Peay, including two consecutive seasons in which the Lady Governors captured Ohio Valley Conference tournament championships and represented the league in the NCAA tournament (2000-02).

Garnder discovered that Swoffard had a knack for recruiting talent at a young age.

 “She was always our student host for recruits and a great person to be around,” said Gardner.  “Like Rhet, she’s been somebody I’ve wanted to hire since I left Arkansas.”

Following her time at Austin Peay, Swoffard spent three seasons at the helm of the Georgia Metros AAU basketball team before joining the staff at Rowan University (N.J.) as a graduate assistant.

Most recently, Swoffard has been an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith over the last four seasons.  In her first year with the Lady Lions, Swoffard helped guide the team to a 34-2 record and the Bi-State Conference East Division title, the NJCAA Region II tournament championship and a third-place finish at the national tournament.

Swoffard earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing from Austin Peay in 2002.

“Another positive is that Swoffard knows what its like to play for me . . . so players can go to her and say, ‘what’s up with coach today’?” said Gardner.