John Griffin started with the Harvard field hockey program as a volunteer assistant coach in the 2022 season. By 2023, he had been promoted to an assistant coach role, and he has since completed three seasons with the team. Griffin primarily focuses on goalkeeper development.
In both 2023 and 2024, Griffin helped lead the Crimson to two consecutive 16-4 records, winning the Ivy Tournament Championship and earning a trip to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament each year.
In 2024 Griffin helped junior Tessa Shahbo improve from her previously year earning an All-Ivy League honorable mention and Ivy League All-Tournament Team selection again, Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 30), led the Ivy League in save percentage (.804). ranking third in the NCAA in the same category and led the Ivy League in goals against average (1.01), ranking seventh in the NCAA in the same category.
In 2023 Griffin helped Shahbo to earn an All-Ivy League honorable mention, Ivy League All-Tournament Team selection, a 1.30 goals against average and a .716 save percentage and led the Ivy League with five shutouts. In his first year with the staff, Griffin worked with Ellie Shahbo on her way to becoming one of the most dominant keepers in the nation after she posted a 0.99 GAA and a 13-4 record.
Griffin previously worked as an assistant coach specializing in goalkeeper development with the field hockey team at Assumption University during the 2021-22 academic year. He was part of a coaching group that was named 2021 Athletic East Coaching Staff of the Year, as the Greyhounds finished the 2021 season with a record of 20-2, reaching the Division II national semifinals.
Griffin oversaw the development of senior goalie Kylie Gargiulo, who was named an NFHCA First Team All-American. Gargiulo was NE10 Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year, finishing the season 20-2 with 10 shutouts, a .838 save percentage, and a 0.81 goals-against average.
Griffin helps coach and support the USA field hockey junior national selection and development camps. He earned his certificate in Goalkeeper Development from USA Field Hockey, is a USA Field Hockey Level I [II] certified coach, and an active USA Field Hockey Coaching member.
A native of Shrewsbury, Mass., he is a retired Marine Corps officer who earned a Master of Liberal Arts in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard in 2010. Griffin completed his Doctorate of Education in Organizational Leadership at Northeastern University in 2023. He is married to former Jean Sasso. He has two children, Jack (b. 2001) is a senior at Harvard College and his daughter Abby (b. 2003) is a field hockey goalkeeper at Hamilton College (NESCAC) in NY.
