Time's up, Griffin

    With names like Mike Gottfried, Frank Beamer and Houston Nutt garnering the title of Murray State football head coach, Matt Griffin had a lot to live up to when he joined the Racer program in 2006.
    However, Griffin will not join these men as Racer coaching legends.
    Griffin was released as the Racer football head coach Monday in an official statement by Director of Athletics Allen Ward.
    “I appreciate what Coach Griffin has done to advance the rebuilding process at Murray State,” Ward stated in a news release. “We have a good nucleus of players and he made some significant progress in a number of areas important to the long-term stability of the program. But as I evaluate the season and what’s in our overall best interests, I have determined a change would be to our advantage at this point in time.”
    Griffin was brought to Murray State after a three-season stint in which he turned around a desperate UT-Martin team.
    The future looked to be in good hands when Ward named Griffin the head coach as he was selected to American Football Monthly’s list of 80 “hot” coaches for 2006.
    Things looked good for the Racer football program and Griffin at the end of the 2008 season.
    The Racers went 5-7 overall and 4-4 in the conference as the team tallied its best record during the Griffin era.
    Expectations were high at the start of this season with members of Griffin’s first recruiting class entering their senior season with plenty of experience under their belts, but the year turned into a disappointment for Murray State fans.
    With inconsistency in the pocket as the role of quarterback switched back-and-forth from senior Nico Yantko and junior Jeff Ehrhardt, the offense has yet to get it together.
    However, a glimmer of hope did come when Griffin pulled freshman Casey Brockman’s redshirt before the Racers’ Nov. 7 matchup with Austin Peay which ended in a 27-17 victory.
    Unfortunately for Griffin and the rest of the football team, things fell to their worst at Southeast Missouri Nov. 14 when Murray State fell 49-13 to the Redhawks. The win is the only one for SEMO against a conference opponent and a Division-1 program this year.
    That devastating loss proved to be the last straw pulled before ending Griffin’s career at Murray State.
    In his final season with the football team, he led the team to an overall record of 3-7 and an OVC record of 2-5.
    Griffin went 11-33 in his time with the Racers and handed the reins of the team’s last game of the 2009 season to Defensive Coordinator Mark Lister who will lead the team in a contest against the Golden Eagles at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Tennessee Tech.
    Griffin showed no negativity in his statement in Monday’s press release about his firing.
    “My family and I have and will always appreciate the generous support of the Murray State University administration, students, loyal alumnae, fans and student-athletes,” Griffin stated.
    Contact Johnson at elizabetha.johnson@murraystate.edu.

1 comments

David Bailey

Sun Nov 22 2009 11:38

When did Murray State become a football factory? Did coach Griffin run the program in the direction prearranged by all powers? Appears he did. Was he a coach of high principal? Appears he was. Only the insiders know for sure. Coach Griffin should have been allowed to finish his contract, then evaluated. I remember "zero of the season" football records. MSU has always been a basketball school and always will. Imagine a 8-20 basketball season. Now that would be a "mushroom cloud" over campus. What is up with the poor fan support in all sports? In olden days be had twice the student and community attendance in lesser facilities. I have traveled over 1,000 miles from Florida to attend games. I will in future living in Arizona. Current students can not find time to walk across campus, and locals travel across town. Has MSU become the "wine and cheese set" of the OVC? Expect wins just by wearing the uniform.
David Bailey
MSU 70
Page, Arizona

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