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Griffin coaching tree continues to grow at Bucknell

03/10/2017, 12:15pm EST
By Josh Verlin

John Griffin III (above) is a second-year coach at Bucknell, where he excelled in a four-year playing career a decade ago. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Three men named John Griffin occupied similar-but-different spots in Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday night.

Up in the stands -- Section G, Row P -- were the oldest and youngest of the trio. John Griffin Jr. sat with his grandson, John Griffin IV, as well as his daughter-in-law Brianna Griffin.

They were there, along with about 4,000 others, to witness Bucknell face Lehigh in the 2017 Patriot League championship game.

But more specifically, the Griffins were there to support the final member of the family: John Griffin III, a second-year assistant coach at his alma mater -- John Jr.’s son, John IV’s dad and Brianna’s husband.

“It’s a wonderful experience as a father and friend,” John Griffin Jr. said, “but as importantly, this is really a reminder to me of John’s experience at Bucknell here as a player and to be able to continue that here as a coach.”

Indeed, the memories came flooding back for the Griffin crew as history repeated itself, sort of.

The 14-year-old Sojka Pavilion was packed to the gills on Wednesday night as it hosted its first Patriot League championship game since 2013, when Bucknell beat the Patriot’s other Lehigh Valley school (Lafayette) for what had been its most recent league title.

At the end of the evening, it was the Bison cutting down the nets after an 81-65 win over the Mountain Hawks.

Well over 1,000 Bucknell students filled the four sections -- and stairways -- behind one of the buckets, lining up several hours before the doors opened at 6 PM to claim a free ticket.

It was a very familiar setting for John Griffin III, but from a brand-new angle.

“It’s different of course, but different in a good way because I’m getting to know the people here on a different level,” he said. “I had an unbelievable experience here at Bucknell.”

If the name hasn’t yet rung any bells: John Jr. was head coach at Saint Joseph’s, his alma mater, from 1990-1995, before he stepped down to head into the business world; a 41-year-old assistant named Phil Martelli replaced him.

His older son, John III, starred at St. Joe’s Prep from 2000-04 before heading up to Lewisburg, where he played a pivotal role in the Bison’s 2005 and 2006 NCAA Tournament teams finishing his career with more than 1,000 points and earning all-Patriot League First Team honors as a senior.

As a freshman, he was on the 14th-seeded squad that upset 3-seed Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament; the following year, the ninth-seeded Bison beat Arkansas in the opening around before losing to top seed Memphis.

After two professional seasons in Europe, John Griffin III spent a season as the Indiana Pacers’ video coordinator (2010-11), played one more season in Italy, and then was hired on staff at Rider, serving as the director of basketball operations in 2012-13 and then as an assistant coach the following two years.

But when Nate Davis, an assistant at Bucknell in 2005-06 during Griffin’s sophomore year, replaced Dave Paulsen after Paulsen left for George Mason following the 2014-15 season, he knew who he wanted on his staff.

“[Davis] called me and asked and I wanted to make sure that I left Rider the right way, because they were so good to my wife and I,” Griffin III said. “After a couple days we moved from Jersey City to Lewisburg...and the rest is history.”

“I think he’s got a good personality to balance with mine, he’s a little more fiery than I am," Davis said. "He’s a little more intense, he wears it more on his sleeve than I do. But he’s done a great job in the profession...I felt like he’d be able to do a good job and help us do what we want to do and tonight’s an example of how that worked.”

Davis brought Griffin for more than just his basketball knowledge. Now, he has someone on the bench to serve as a constant reminder of the program’s strong history.

The head coach said he doesn’t need to bring point that up, however -- Griffin makes sure the current Bisons are well aware.

“He’s on us a lot, he’s on me a lot,” sophomore guard Kimbal Mackenzie said after the championship win. “Whenever I get frustrated with him or I think he’s talking to me too much, I just keep in mind that he has my best interests at heart, he wants to win, and definitely him being a player here -- and him being a very good player at that -- definitely makes it more credible for sure.”

“When you put the Bucknell jersey on in the Patriot League, you become the bullseye and everyone wants to beat you,” Griffin said. “[I tell them] to enjoy that, but also remind them that we won too and they have a lot to live up to.”

Griffin’s made the transition from playing to coaching seamlessly, becoming an invaluable member of a team that’s eagerly awaiting Selection Sunday as it goes dancing for the first time since ‘13.

It’s a trait that’s running in the family.

John III’s younger brother, Matt Griffin -- also a former St. Joe’s Prep standout who played his college ball at Rider and Boston U -- is now the head coach at Roman Catholic.

“It would have been hard to foresee that they’d have ended up as coaches,” John Griffin Jr. said. “I’ve always thought that they should try other things and experience other things but they’ve both found their way back to basketball.”

“The thing my brother and I enjoy the most is the impact that you can have,” Griffin III said, “and it’s so important to help young men be able to handle life, and basketball is a tool to help them.”


John Griffin III celebrates with his wife, Brianna, and their son John Griffin IV. Their second child is due later this year. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

While John Griffin Jr. didn’t necessarily see his son ending up in the coaching ranks, John Griffin III knows from experience that anything can happen.

But watching John Griffin IV run around the Sojka court nearly two hours after the game had wrapped up, carrying a little basketball of his own, it’s hard not to picture the hoops tradition continuing in the family -- Brianna, after all, was a 1,000-point scorer in her own right at Mount St. Mary’s.

“My son is my retirement, he’s going to make the NBA,” Griffin joked.

Okay, that’s likely a stretch, considering the infant’s father and uncle were what John Griffin Jr. described as “not physically gifted,” though anything’s certainly possible.

“Most people that are sons of coaches stay away from basketball because the family lifestyle is hard,” Griffin III said. “There’s such an unknown to the business. Five years ago, would I have told you I’d be coaching here? No.”

While his father got out of coaching for good before he turned 45, Griffin -- who has plans of running his own program sometime in the not-too-distant future -- admitted he’d like to stay in the profession “as long as I can.”

Maybe just long enough to have two Griffins side-by-side at Sojka again. Except this time, instead of Section G, Row P, it’ll be about 20 rows further down.

On the Bison bench.


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