DAYTON, Ohio -- University of Dayton men’s basketball coach Archie Miller has named Allen Griffin the newest member of his coaching staff. Griffin, 32, has 11 years experience in Division I basketball, including four seasons as a standout point guard at Syracuse University.
“Allen is extremely talented, not only as a coach, but as a role model,” Miller said. “He really fits into our basketball program’s mission of the total development of our players, as well as the mentoring of young people as it relates to the University of Dayton as a whole. We are extremely excited to add him to our staff and look forward to his making an impact immediately.”
Griffin captained the Orangemen as a senior in 2000-01, when he averaged 10.8 points and 6.5 assists, ranking seventh all-time in school history for assists in a season. He had 409 assists in his career. Griffin played 133 games for the Orangemen and was a part of four NCAA Tournament teams. His Orange teams combined for a 98-36 record in that span (a .731 winning percentage).
After graduating from Syracuse in 2001, Griffin played professionally in Slovenia for a year, and worked as a teacher and girls basketball coach a Christian Brothers Academy for one season. In 2003, he returned to Syracuse to work on Jim Boeheim’s staff as an administrative assistant. After two years in that position, he took an assistant coaching position at St. Francis (NY) for the 2005-06 campaign.
Following his first year at St. Francis, Griffin coached at Providence for two seasons before returning to St. Francis for another two years. Last year, he coached at Hofstra under former Flyer assistant coach Mo Cassara, helping the Dutchmen to a 21-12 record and a return to the post season.
His responsibilities at his coaching stops have included recruiting, on-court coaching, travel planning, scheduling, game preparation and assisting in monitoring academics.
“I feel very fortunate and honored to be a part of coach Miller’s staff here at the University of Dayton and I’ll work my hardest to continue to add to our great basketball tradition,” Griffin said. “I played in the Arena during the NCAA tournament and it was an unbelievable atmosphere. Everyone I’ve talked to about coming here has had nothing but great things to say about Dayton basketball and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Griffin attended Paul Robeson High School, where he earned high school All-America honors as a senior in 1996-97. He and his wife Tiffany have two sons, Allen Jr. and Trey.
