It’s been a great week for Allen Griffin’s basketball coaching career, but a sad one for his Syracuse-loving heart.

Griffin, an administrative assistant on the Syracuse men’s basketball team and former SU guard, accepted an assistant coaching position at St. Francis College in Brooklyn earlier this week.

Griffin played at Syracuse from 1997 to 2001 and returned to coach in 2003 so the decision to return to his hometown of Brooklyn came with some indecisiveness. Griffin cried multiple times this week when he realized he was leaving.

‘My heart is in Syracuse,’ Griffin said. ‘I’ve grown so accustomed to the place. I didn’t want to leave.’

The opportunity to assume a larger coaching position proved too great for Griffin to turn down. St. Francis hired Brian Nash, an assistant coach under former Syracuse assistant Louis Orr at Seton Hall, on March 30 and Griffin completes Nash’s staff.

Griffin has known Nash, who also grew up in Brooklyn, for many years, but the pair talked in-depth at the Final Four earlier this month about the position. Griffin grew comfortable with Nash and liked the opportunity to recruit and actively coach, rather than provide help behind the scenes.

Griffin will coach the guards at St. Francis, a position he played at Syracuse for four seasons.

Griffin played in 133 games at Syracuse and averaged nearly 11 points his senior season. His most memorable moment came in his final regular season game when he scored a career-high 31 points to defeat St. John’s in double-overtime at Madison Square Garden. He played professional basketball in Europe and the National Basketball Developmental League for two seasons before returning to Syracuse to work under SU head coach Jim Boeheim.

‘I learned a lot from Coach Boeheim,’ Griffin said of his time at SU. ‘I learned pretty much from every coach.’

Griffin will continue to work at Syracuse until May 14. He has a day off before reporting for work under Nash. Griffin said it’ll be tough to say goodbye but he’s looking forward to a new challenge.

‘It’s pretty cool,’ Griffin said. ‘I’m excited about going back to Brooklyn.’

Published on April 26, 2005 at 12:00 pm