Syracuse basketball officially hires Allen Griffin as assistant coach

Update (4 p.m. ET): It’s official.

On Sunday, we discussed the pending hire of Allen Griffin as the Syracuse Orange’s new assistant coach. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein first reported the news, but SU coach Jim Boeheim refuted it being a done deal at the time.

Now, it appears the hire’s official -- or about to be. Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters reported today that the announcement will be made this Thursday or Friday, according to a source.

Griffin’s hire will fill out Boeheim’s staff in the wake of Mike Hopkins’s departure to Washington.

As mentioned in previous articles, Griffin has been on Dayton’s bench for the past five years, and before that, he served as an assistant for Hofstra, Providence and St. Francis. The former SU guard averaged 6.1 points and 3.1 assists per game over the course of his career from 1997-2001. During his senior season, he jumped well over those figures, scoring 10.8 points, and adding 6.5 assists per game.

Following a brief stint in Europe and the D-League, he came back to Syracuse as an administrative assistant to the team from 2003-05.

With the official announcement coming very soon, we’re happy to welcome Griffin back to Syracuse. Looking forward to see how he’s able to step up both on the bench and on the recruiting trail for the Orange going forward.