Griffin To Skipper Mohawks in 2009

The Amsterdam Mohawks of the New York Collegiate Baseball League have hired Guntersville, Ala., native Keith Griffin as their field manager for the 2009 season. Griffin is the franchise's ninth different manager over the last nine years. He replaces Kevin Downing who guided the club to a second-place finish in the Eastern Division and an appearance in the playoffs.

Griffin takes over the Tribe after a seven-year stint as the head baseball coach at Okaloosa-Walton Community College (now Northwest Florida State College) in Niceville, Fla. Griffin tallied seven-straight winning seasons with the Raiders and never finished with fewer than 25 victories.

He put together a successful six-year campaign at Jefferson Davis Community College in Alabama from 1996 through 2002 before beComing the head coach at Okaloosa-Walton. Griffin's 1998 squad won the NJCAA Division II national championship. Additionally, he guided JDCC to two other World Series appearances, two Alabama state titles, six Alabama state tournament showings and five conference championships. Griffin was a two-time conference and state Coach of the Year and he was named National Coach of the Year in 1998.

The native Alabaman also has assistant coaching experience at the collegiate level at Okaloosa-Walton and Jacksonville University. Griffin was also a 10-year head coach at Pine Forest High School from 1980 to 1990. He played collegiately at Gadsden State Junior College and Livingston University.

Under Kevin Downing last season, the Amsterdam Mohawks belted a league-high 31 home runs and put together a 26-14 record, good for second place in the Eastern Division. The Tribe's 26 wins were the most by the franchise since 2005. Amsterdam has missed the playoffs just once over the last seven years.