USF Athletics

Damon Griffiths is in his second season as an assistant coach at USF and works primarily with the distance runners.

In his first season with the Bulls, Griffiths helped the women's cross country team finish two spots higher at the American Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships than the season prior. In addition, Griffiths helped Natalie Walsh finish 26th overall at the conference championships meet and become the first Bull since 2016 to finish in the top 30.

In 2019, Griffiths coached the men and women’s team to win the USF Invitational. That same year, the women placed 10th in the AAC XC Championships.  

For the spring 2021 season, the men returned to win the UCF Invitational. That same year, the men and women continued success off the course by earning NCAA Division I Academic All-American Team honors.

Under his guidance, distance runners Yohance Haynes and Derwin Moultrie have all etched their names into USF’s record books. Haynes is currently no. 4 in the men’s 800-meter dash with a time of 1 minute, 52.49 seconds. Moultrie took fourth-place at AAC Indoor 800m and holds spot seven on the all-time leader boards with a time of 1:53.55. Alexandra Weir placed seventh in the mile at the AAC Indoor Championship 5:01.8 while the Women’s Distance Medley team (Weir, Bazile, Bienz, Walsh) placed seventh 11:58.34. 

He has coached Justin Bridgewater and Jasmine Knowles, the men’s and women’s 2021 800m Bahamian National Champions. Knowles currently holds the no. 4 all-time 800m outdoor, pacing at 2:08.44. 

Griffiths spent the previous 12 seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Miami, working with the men’s and women’s middle and long distance runners as well as the cross country team.   

During his time with the Hurricanes, Griffiths helped 22 student-athletes post school records (11 men and 11 women), coached 16 ACC scorers and helped produce 62 all-time top five performances in Miami history. In addition, Griffiths helped coach Miami to four ACC Women’s Track and Field Championships in a row, winning indoor in 2016 and 2017, outdoor in 2018 and indoor in 2019.
 
Before joining the coaching staff at Miami, Griffiths spent eight years as the Athletic Director and head cross country/track coach at Bay Point High School in Miami. At Bay Point, Griffiths guided the Falcons to six consecutive district track titles, two regional titles and a state runner-up finish in 2005. Griffiths was named Miami Herald High School Boys Track Coach of the Year in 2005. 

Griffiths competed for the University of Miami from 1993-1997. He competed in events ranging from the 400 meters to cross country. During his stay, he was a record holder of four indoor events (800m, mile, 4x400 relay, distance medley relay) and five outdoor events (800m, 4x400 relay, 4x800 relay, sprint medley relay and distance medley relay). Griffiths served as the cross country team captain while earning all-state honors his sophomore and junior years. Griffiths ran the 400 leg on the 1994 Penn Relays Championship sprint relay team, the only one in school history. 

Griffiths earned his Bachelor of Science in speech communications and sociology from the University of Miami in 1997.