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After a stint as an assistant coach with the U.S. National Team, Andrew Griffiths returns to the Terrapin sidelines for his fourth season as an assistant coach. The international mentor and former Olympian supervises external operations for the field hockey program, including marketing, media and facility management, while focusing his coaching on the Terps' offense and attack penalty corners.
"Andrew's knowledge of hockey comes from a combination of international experiences," said head coach Missy Meharg. "He's competed in the Olympics for Canada and in two World Cups. He's played from the sweeper position all the way up through the forward line and can teach skills for all positions on the field."
A 1995 graduate of Western Ontario University, Griffiths' coaching resume includes the head position at the helm of his alma mater from 1990-93. He helped guide the Mustangs to their first-ever Canadian top-10 ranking during his final season.
Griffiths was a member of the Canadian National Field Hockey Team from 1989-2000. He helped his squad to a 10th-place finish at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and played in the 1990 and 1998 World Cups as well. Griffiths served as the squad's captain from 1992-94, and made appearances at the Pan American Games in 1991, 1995 and 1999.
The coach earned a bachelor's degree in English from Western Ontario in 1995, before obtaining his master's degree in journalism in 1998 from Toronto's Ryerson Polytechnic Institute.
Griffiths has risen to a new level of involvement in U.S. hockey in the last two years.
From 2003-04, Griffiths reunited with former Terrapin All-Americans Kate Kauffman-Beach, Keli Smith and Dina Rizzo as an assistant coach in residency with the U.S. National Team. Serving under Old Dominion head coach Beth Anders, Griffiths accompanied the Stars & Stripes on tours of Spain, Chile and Argentina in 2003. In February and March 2004, he joined Team USA at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in New Zealand where the team narrowly missed qualification losing to Korea for the final Olympic berth.
In 2004, Griffiths served as head coach of the U.S. Field Hockey League's Tidewater Tempest. Along with Maryland head coach Missy Meharg and former Terrapin assistants Stephen Simpson and Ange Bradley, Griffiths led the squad to the championship game where it lost to the U.S. Under-21 team in penalty strokes. The Tempest ended the competition as the to regional team after defeating Southern Charm in the semifinals, eliminating the Charm from the league finals for the first time in six years.
Griffiths was named director of the U.S. Field Hockey's B Camp in 2003 and 2004 and was responsible for writing the skills curriculum and overseeing the selection process for A Camp. He also developed the curriculum for A Camp in January where he worked as a team coach,
Griffiths was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the international field hockey website, planetfieldhockey.com from its inception in 2000 to 2003. He has co-authored a book on field hockey drills titled "Coach Hockey."
