Track & Field
- Title:
- Head Coach
ASSIGNMENTS–Cross Country/Distance
- Email:
- ggraves@athletics.pitt.edu
- Phone:
- 828-292-7461
Griff Graves was hired as the Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Distance in August of 2023.
Graves comes to Pittsburgh after spending the last five years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Syracuse, where he worked primarily with the Orange’s distance runners. Most recently, the Orange scored in all six NCAA Championship events, across men's and women's cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field during the 2022-23 season. At the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Syracuse men took 12th place and the women finished 23rd. Under Graves' tutelage, the Orange men claimed the 2019 ACC Cross Country Championship and won the NCAA Northeast Region Cross Country Championship in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
Prior to Graves' return to the Orange, he served as the operations assistant for the Florida State cross country and track and field programs. During his one-year stint in the sunshine state, the Seminoles won both the men's and women's ACC Indoor Track and Field titles, with the men also claiming the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Graves began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Appalachian State in 2016-17, helping the Mountaineers' women's team to a Sun Belt Cross Country title.
As a student-athlete, Graves won three conference championships with the Orange and helped Syracuse achieve a Top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships in 2013. After graduation, Graves ran professionally for ZAP Fitness/ Reebok, qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Graves and his wife Cassie have one daughter, Gillian.
