JOHN Longmire says his side's 60-point loss to Brisbane in the Grand Final wasn't a major factor in his decision to resign and hand the coaching reins to long-time assistant Dean Cox. 

Longmire announced his decision on Tuesday after 14 seasons in the role, with West Coast legend Cox to replace him as senior coach. Longmire will remain at the club in the new role of executive director of club performance.

The 53-year-old said he had begun discussing his departure from the senior coaching role with CEO Tom Harley and chairman Andrew Pridham more than a year ago, but had only made the final decision in recent weeks. 

He said he might have made the decision sooner had the Swans beaten the Lions, instead of falling to their second heavy Grand Final loss in three seasons, following the 2022 defeat against Geelong. 

"I didn't know at that point," he said.

"Sometimes you just need a bit of time to work it out. My last game as a player was a premiership, and I pulled the pin after that.

"I didn't know whether that'd be my last game or not. I wasn't 100 per cent sure.

"All I know was that halfway through the year, and even before that, I was talking to Tom and Andrew about it.

"I just felt like I needed to stop and rest and reset and regenerate. And it's very hard to do that when you're coaching and so I didn't know at that particular point in time.

"The decision to go forward for this footy club was really important so I needed to make the right call."

He admitted a Grand Final win likely wouldn't have changed his mind.

"I may have made the decision to not coach if we'd had won, and maybe even got to that decision quicker," he said.

"So all I know is I was thinking about that long before then."

Cox, who was considered a contender for the West Coast coaching job before turning down his former club's interest, will take over from Longmire on a four-year contract.

"There was nothing in place through that process," Cox said of the conjecture around the West Coast job. 

"So mine was a family decision, the ability to really enjoy where we are as a family, and with the possibility of hopefully coaching this great club one day."

Pridham said in a statement Longmire had flagged his impending departure 18 months ago.

"John advised us some 18 months ago that he felt within himself that his time as senior coach would likely end at the completion of either season 2024 or 2025," Pridham said. "The process that we have followed after John advising us of his longer-term intentions reflects our preferred approach of managed and seamless succession.

"Being a senior AFL coach is a taxing role and we greatly respect John's desire to play an alternative, but important, part in our club's future. His decision to step down a year earlier than had been envisaged was not an easy one for him. However, I deeply respect his reasons and the way he has worked with the club to prepare Dean as his successor, particularly over the past 18 months."

Longmire has been at the helm of the Swans since 2011 and was contracted to coach the club in 2025.

The 2012 premiership winner led his club to two Grand Finals in the past three seasons, both of which ended in heavy defeats.

Longmire won a flag in 2012, just his second year in charge, and has since steered his side to Grand Finals in 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2024 without tasting the ultimate success again despite making finals in 12 of his 14 seasons in charge. 

Longmire himself was part of a succession plan, taking over from 2005 premiership mentor Paul Roos at the end of 2010, and admitted he'd always wanted to repeat that path.

"I thought, if I'm going to do it, probably now's the time to do it," he said.

"And I always had a dream of making sure that I'd be able to hand the club over in as good a position as I could possibly do it."

"Just as John was the beneficiary of a transition into the role from Paul Roos, I am very pleased to have been mentored into this role by John," Cox said. "It is very much part of the Swans way, and I'm extremely excited for next year and beyond.

"I'm grateful to John for his support of me and for being a great coaching mentor. Having him remain at the club is fantastic as it will allow everyone right across the organisation to draw on his vast experience.

"It's an honour to take the baton from John. I understand the enormous responsibility this role brings, and I'm looking forward to getting to work and continuing the success of this great club for our loyal supporters."

Longmire finishes his coaching career in Sydney with an overall winning percentage of 62.9 from his club-record 333 games, with 208 wins, 122 losses and three draws.

Of the 56 coaches in VFL/AFL history to have coached 150 or more games, Longmire has the sixth-best winning percentage.

Longmire, a champion player at North Melbourne who won the 1990 Coleman Medal and played in the 1999 premiership, started his time at the Swans in 2002 as an assistant to Roos, playing a key role in the club's drought-breaking 2005 flag.

John Longmire, by the numbers

Games: 333
Wins: 208
Draws: 3
Losses: 122
Win percentage: 62.91
Premierships: 2012
Grand Finals: 2012, 2014, 2016, 2022, 2024
Finals matches: 28

Best win percentage as coach (min 150 games)
68.11 - Chris Scott (Geelong)
66.99 - Dick Reynolds (Essendon)
66.06 - Jock McHale (Collingwood)
65.08 - Frank 'Checker' Hughes (Richmond, Melbourne)
64.75 - Tom Hafey (Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney)
62.91 - John Longmire (Sydney)