Named the director of intercollegiate athletics and recreation on August 2, 2004, Mark Griffin has influenced policy and progress not only at Rutgers-Newark but in regional athletic administration.
In the fall of 2012, he became just the second athletic director in the history of the venerable New Jersey Athletic Conference to be presented the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Male Administrator of the Year - joining his mentor Larry Schiner of New Jersey City University. 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. Last spring, two of his pupils - Mercedes Glover and Samantha Renfree - reached the NCAA Division III Outdoor Nationals in the javelin. Glover earned All-America honors for the second time in her career.
The department has added a full-time head coach for cross country and track & field as well as upgrading the men’s soccer and softball head coaching positions to full-time appointments.
Graduate interns have been added to the staff under Griffin’s initiative to help with operations and recruiting while offering career development opportunities for aspiring coaches.
In his tenure, facility hours have been expanded, the fitness center has been completely revamped, and The Golden Dome Arena has undergone an extensive makeover. The original synthetic floor was replaced with a wood suspension system in 2010 before the wooden bleacher seating was replaced with 1,002 red plastic chair-back seats in 2011. New state-of-the-art sound and scoreboard systems have already been installed. New office space has been added for the ever expanding staff.
A $1.6 million renovation of varsity and general usage locker rooms plus restructuring of the laundry and storage areas in The Golden Dome was completed under Griffin's direction in September of 2014. Wooden facade lockers in team rooms as well as completely reconstructed shower and bathroom facilities give the Scarlet Raiders one of the finest varsity sports areas in the region.
In September of 2006, Alumni Field was reopened featuring a FieldTurf artificial surface for soccer and a new softball field. New lighting allows for night softball games as well as soccer and a new outdoor score board was installed. In the fall of 2012, an elevated 10-person press box was opened for soccer, giving the Scarlet Raiders one of the finest on-campus facilities in the region.
Griffin began the Rutgers-Newark Golf Outing in 2009 – in an unusual night golf format – which moved to an October date in the fall of 2011. In the fall of 2014, the highly successful outing will morph into a day/night affair as he continues to innovate.
Griffin oversees the campus’s athletic program which includes all intercollegiate programs for both women and men as well as the campus recreational program which includes the intramural program and the Newark community.
Under his direction, the Rugers-Newark athletics website has become a leader among NCAA Division III insitutions. The site was a pioneer in production of videos through RaiderVision. The site now offers live video streaming and live statistics of home contests. Griffin has also driven the development of social media as a means to reach a younger audience.
Active in New Jersey Athletic Conference concerns, he spearheaded the hosting of the NJAC Championship Baseball Tournament by the Newark Bears in Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium in 2007 and 2008.
He has served on the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship Regional Committee since 2005 and served as chairman in 2007-2008. Griffin is now supervising his third post-graduate intern as an assistant for marketing and development.
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, CT. He began serving a term as Vice Chair of the ECAC Board of Directors in November of 2015.
He also 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 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, developing the women’s track team into a national power. 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 virtually every sport.
Griffin had headed the athletics program at Teikyo Post University in Waterbury, Conn., from 1987-1990. Prior to that, he was 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, and its nationally ranked women’s cross-country team. He also taught as an adjunct professor at all three institutions.
During his coaching career, Griffin has shaped numerous athletes into champions, helping to produce 22 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-Americans, 71 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Conference winners, 72 New Jersey Athletic Conference All Conference winners, 13 ECAC individual champions, six NJAC record-holders, and the NCAA women’s record-holder in the 55-meter dash, Diana Lawson.
Most recently, Griffin guided Rutgers-Newark graduate Mercedes Glover to All-America honors in the javelin throw at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, culminating with Glover finishing as the national runner-up at the 2015 NCAA Championships in upstate-NY. Glover finished her outdoor career as a three-time All-American, ECAC Champion and a three-time all-conference honoree.
In 2003, Griffin was named NJAC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year, and was also chosen as the NJAC’s Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year. He is president of the Collegiate Track Conference.
Griffin holds a bachelor of science in recreation and leisure studies from Montclair State College (now University), and a masters of education in recreation management from Springfield College in Massachusetts.
Griffin was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995, honoring an impressive athletic career as a student. He still holds the school record for the javelin throw, and he was named All American in javelin for three years. Griffin also was an All-American in water polo in 1985 and captain of the water polo team in 1984. He captained the swimming and diving team from 1984-1985, and the track and field team from 1983-1984.
He is an active member of the Collegiate Athletic Administrators of New Jersey (CAANJ), the Black Coaches Association (BCA), the United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA), the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA).
