Belhaven University Athletics

Kevin Griffin is in his 15th season as the Head Softball Coach at Belhaven University and his 17th year overall with the Blazers' Athletic Department.

In his 14 seasons at the helm of the Blazers' softball program, Griffin has coached 656 total games and amassed 449 career wins, the most in program history having surpassed former Head Coach Rick Fremin's total of 186 during the 2015 season.

In 2024, Griffin helped lead the Blazers to their first ever NCAA Division III Women's College World Series appearance where they reached the Championship Series and finished the year as national runners-up. In the World Series, the Blazers eliminated top seed Linfield and picked up wins over No.2 seed East Texas Baptist and No. 3 seed Case Western Reserve. The 2024 Belhaven Softball team marked the first Blazers' program to compete for an NCAA National Championship since the University became full members in the fall of 2019.

The 2023 season saw Belhaven win the inaugural Collegiate Conference of the South regular season and conference tournament titles while earning a third straight berth to the NCAA Tournament. Belhaven swept the Marshall Regional for a second straight year and advanced to the program's second ever Super Regional.

During the 2022 season, Belhaven won the American Southwest Conference regular season crown and the ASC Conference Tournament to gain an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Blazers swept through the Marshall Regional hosted by East Texas Baptist, marking their first ever Regional win and first appearance at an NCAA Super Regional. The Belhaven coaching staff was named the ASC Coaching Staff of the Year and the Blazers finished ranked No. 7 in the final NFCA Top 25 Poll. The team's .837 winning percentage is the second highest in program history.  

In the 2021 season, Griffin and the Blazers finished atop the American Southwest Conference (ASC) regular season standings and earned the first NCAA Division III Regional berth in program history in their first year of postseason eligibility. The Belhaven coaching staff was named the ASC Coaching Staff of the Year and the Blazers finished the season ranked 19th in the final NFCA Top 25 poll. 

Prior to Belhaven's NCAA affiliation, Griffin helped lead the Blazers to success as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) program and an affiliate in the National Christian College Athletics Associaiton (NCCAA) during the program's transition from NAIA to NCAA.

Griffin and the Blazers were twice runners-up in the NCCAA World Series, earning championship appearances in both 2016 and 2018. The Blazers' 2016 team finished the year with a 6-9 record with a win percentage of .800, the 4th highest in program history. 

Griffin's first season at Belhaven was tremendously successful, as the Blazers won the 2011 Southern States Athletic Conference Championship and finished third in the NAIA National Championship Tournament with a 50-12 record.

Griffin eclipsed the 200-win mark on March 15, 2016, winning the first game of a doubleheader sweep at Rust College. He went on to hit the 300-win mark on February 24, 2021 as part of a double-header against Birmingham-Southern. Griffin's 400th career victory came in a 2-1 win against No. 8 Texas Lutheran on May 18th, 2023 in the NCAA Marshall Regional.

In his fourteen seasons as Head Coach of the Blazers, Griffin has led the Green and Gold to five NAIA national tournaments, four NCAA Division III Tournaments, two NCCAA World Series and one NCAA Division III Women's College World Series. During the NCAA era, Griffin has coached Belhaven to NCAA Regionals in all four years the program has been NCAA postseason eligible with three regional victories. Additionally, he has coached 21 All-Americans, 36 All-Region players, and 63 All-Conference athletes. Further, Griffin has coached three SSAC Player of the Year winners, two ASC Pitcher of the Year, two CCS Pitcher of the Year, one CCS Player of the Year, one ASC Freshman of the Year and two ASC Newcomers of the Year.

Coach Griffin has also seen his players achieve off the field. Griffin has coached 137 Conference All-Academic honorees, two ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes and 21 nationally recognized scholar athletes.

Griffin became the Head Softball Coach at Belhaven after spending three seasons in the same position at Clinton High School, a 6A school located in Clinton, Mississippi.

During his tenure at Clinton, each of Griffin’s teams finished with top-five state rankings and earned state tournament berths, while eleven of his Clinton student-athletes signed scholarships to play collegiate softball. With additional coaching stops at Ridgeland High School, Central Hinds Academy and Porter's Chapel Academy, he has also been an active coach on the summer softball circuit in Mississippi.

Before coming to Mississippi, Griffin coached softball and basketball in the state of Georgia, where he led Windsor High School to the Georgia State Softball Championship in 1998. He amassed an overall high school softball coaching record of 171 wins and 54 losses over eight years and was named as the state coach of the year in Georgia in 1998.

Griffin was also a head high school basketball coach, compiling a career record of 251 wins and 71 losses. He is currently the second all-time leading scorer at Central Fellowship Christian Academy in Macon, Georgia, where he compiled a total of 1,501 points in his high school career.  His record stood for 31 years before it was broken in 2022.  

He came to Belhaven in 2000 as the Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach and Sports Information Director and served in that capacity for two years. He helped lead Belhaven to the 2001 NAIA Division II National Tournament in Branson, Missouri and also to a NAIA Division II regional in 2002. He has also coached basketball teams overseas for SCORE International and built an overall 63-5 record competing in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

In addition to coaching, Griffin also serves as Associate Athletics Director as well as Hall of Fame Coordinator. In his free time he helps with various broadcasting events throughout the state of Mississippi and has also served a role in the past as a radio voice for multiple High School, College, and Professional Sporting events.  

Kevin and his wife Kim reside in Florence, Mississippi. and have three sons: Kannon, Konnor, and Kaden.