BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — For more recent fans of the collegiate game, the name Mark Griffin may not be familiar. However, the current Director of Athletics at Rugers University-Newark excelled in multiple sports during his time at Montclair State University (N.J.) – including water polo.
From 1981-1985, Griffin made a name for himself at Montclair State as an outstanding athlete in three sports, a rarity in college athletics outside cross country, indoor track and outdoor track & field. The Montclair State Athletic Hall of Fame inductee not only participated in three sports – track & field, water polo and swimming – he earned varsity letters in each of the three sports for all of his years at the school.
The track and field team captain in 1983 and 1984, Griffin was also named team captain for the water polo team in 1984 and the swimming team during that same year. In 1982, Griffin, in just his sophomore year, rose to the top of his chosen event, the javelin, and attained All-America status. He repeated the feat for the next two years. The javelin champion at the 1984 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship, he earned his highest finish in the event later that way by placing fifth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Since graduating from Montclair in 1985, he has made a name for himself as a coach and an administrator.
On August 2, 2004, he was named the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation at Rutgers-Newark.
In the fall of 2012, he became just the second athletic director in the history of the NJAC to be presented the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Male Administrator of the Year. The next Fall, he received the Garden State Award from the Collegiate Athletic Administrators of New Jersey for “substantial and enduring contributions to the development of intercollegiate athletics in the State of New Jersey.”
Scarlet Raider varsity sports teams have flourished with men’s and women’s basketball, men’s soccer and baseball becoming perennial post-season contenders as well as regulars in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship playoffs. Baseball (2006 and 2011) and men’s soccer (2011) have claimed ECAC Metro Championships while men’s basketball (2011) and women’s basketball (2012) have each reached ECAC title games. Men’s basketball (2010 and 2013) and men’s soccer (2013) have received the first at-large bids to the NCAA Championship Tournament in program history.
Under his guidance, Rutgers-Newark began men’s and women’s varsity programs for cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field in the fall of 2007, bringing the number of intercollegiate teams to 16. He has added duties of assistant track & field coach, helping instruct the throwing events for the Scarlet Raiders.
He has served on the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Regional Committee since 2005 and served as chairman in 2007-2008.
An active member of the ECAC Board of Directors since October of 2009, Griffin has been a key influence as the nation’s oldest and largest intercollegiate athletic conference has completely shuffled its administration, refined its operating procedures and moved its offices to a new centrally-located site in Danbury, Conn. He began serving a term as Vice Chair of the ECAC Board of Directors in November of 2015. Further, he was a member of the NCAA Division III Metro Men’s Soccer Regional Selection Committee from 2005-2007.
Since 2000, Griffin has been the president of the Collegiate Track Conference (CTC) and has chaired the ECAC Division III Track & Field/Cross Country Committee since 2004. He has served on the selection committee for the ECAC Division III Metro men’s soccer since 2002 and on the men’s basketball selection committee since 2005. He also has served on the ECAC Division III women basketball committee.
Prior to his appointment at Rutgers-Newark, Griffin was associate director of athletics at New Jersey City University. During his 13 years at New Jersey City University, the Verona resident rose from the position of assistant athletics director to that of associate director of athletics; reinstituted the men’s cross-country and track and field programs; and resurrected the women’s track and field program. He also was NJCU’s compliance and eligibility officer, and coordinated scheduling of all games and events for NJCU’s 15-team athletic program. Over the course of his NJCU career, he supervised the head coaches of every sport.
From 1987-to-1990, Griffin led the athletics program at Teikyo Post University in Waterbury, Conn. after serving as associate director of intramurals at Springfield College in Massachusetts, as well as assistant coach of its men’s and women’s track and field teams. He also taught as an adjunct professor at all three institutions.
During his coaching career in track & field/cross country, Griffin has shaped numerous athletes into champions, helping to produce 22 NCAA All-America honors, 71 All-ECAC selection, 72 NJAC All-Conference recipients, 13 ECAC individual champions, six NJAC record-holders and the NCAA women’s record-holder in the 55-meter dash, Diana Lawson.
The 2003 NJAC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year and NJAC Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year, he holds a bachelor of science in recreation and leisure studies from Montclair State and a Masters of Education in Recreation Management from Springfield College.
