A former goalkeeper with the United States National Team, Amy Griffin is in her 11th year on the Washington women’s soccer coaching staff. She was promoted to Associate Head Coach in August of 2005.
"Amy’s promotion is really well deserved. She has put in nine years here that have been extraordinary as an assistant coach," Head Coach Lesle Gallimore remarked. "She deserves it, if for no other reason than that’s what she actually is in our program is an associate head coach.
"The quality of her ability speaks for itself so I’m happy for her to have that title of associate head coach and the responsibility that goes along with it. She has a long history in the state of Washington and is highly respected nationally throughout the soccer community."
The former Amy Allmann was hired as an assistant coach at UW on March 26, 1996 after serving as the head coach at the University of New Mexico the previous three seasons.
A native of Federal Way, Wash., Griffin was reunited with Husky head coach Lesle Gallimore who she served with as an assistant at San Diego State in 1991 and 1992.
Griffin helped UW reach the 1996 NCAA Tournament in her first season, tutoring Tina Thompson who finished her career as UW’s leader in nearly every goalkeeping statistic.
In 2004, Griffin mentored goalkeeper Kelsey Rasmussen who played every minute of every game. She helped Rasmussen register a school-record 10 shutouts in 2004. That stellar goalkeeping helped the Huskies advance to the Elite Eight.
In 1997, Griffin was charged with tutoring freshman goalkeeper Leslie Weeks who finished with four shutouts in her inaugural season.
The Huskies returned to the NCAA Tournament in 1998 despite injuries that attacked the goalkeeping depth. Griffin worked with three different goalkeepers en route to the playoff berth.
During four seasons from 1999-2002, Griffin mentored Hope Solo who was the 2001 Pac-10 Player of the Year along with being a finalist for the Hermann Trophy and Missouri Athletic Club award the last two years. Solo, who garnered second-team All-America acclaim in 2000 and 2001, is UW’s all-time leader in saves (325), shutouts (18) and goals against average (1.02).
Griffin’s mentoring of Solo was critical during the Huskies run to the 2000 Pac-10 title as eight of nine conference clashes were decided by one-goal margins, including four 1-0 decisions.
Who better to coach such quality talent than Griffin, a former world-class competitor.
Solo played in 2003 with the Philadelphia Charge of the WUSA. She was the fourth overall selection in the WUSA Draft on Feb. 2, 2003.
Training with a former national team member paid off for Solo who joined the U.S. National Team in March of 2000. Solo, who has earned several "caps" for international appearances, earned a shutout against Iceland in her inaugural national team outing on April 5, 2000.
Prior to her San Diego State stint, Griffin was an assistant coach at Santa Clara from 1989-91. She was also an assistant at her alma mater, Central Florida, after graduating in 1987 with a B.A. in organizational communications and a minor in health.
Her coaching career began as an assistant coach in 1987 at Lyman High School in Orlando, Fla. Griffin was one of the first nine women to obtain a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) level "A" coaching license. She is active in the Olympic Development program and coached at the 1995 U.S. Olympic Sports Festival.
Griffin spent three years at New Mexico where she started the program in 1993. The Lobos posted a 27-24-1 record under Griffin, including a 10-7-3 mark in 1995 en route to a second-place finish in the Western Athletic Conference.
Griffin’s coaching ability has not gone unnoticed on the national level. In 1998, she became a staff coach for both the NSCAA and the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Griffin’s lengthy list of playing credentials is impressive. She was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1987 to 1991, playing on the team that won the first women’s World Cup in 1991.
She played four years with the U.S. National Team, collecting 24 caps. In 23 career national team starts she posted a 12-8-3 record with a 0.99 goals against average.
A graduate of Decatur (Wash.) High School and member of the F.C. Royals club program, Griffin played at the University of Central Florida where she was named the adidas Goalkeeper of the Year in 1987. Central Florida earned NCAA Tournament invitations three times during Griffin’s collegiate career.
Griffin was inducted into the Central Florida Hall of Fame in 1999, the school’s second women’s soccer honoree. The first was her teammate at UCF and former U.S. National Team standout Michelle Akers.
During her playing career, Griffin earned five gold medals and one silver as a participant at the Olympic Sports Festival.
She played on the 1998 and 1999 USASA national over-30 club champions.
Griffin served broadcast commentating stints with NBC, ESPN and Fox Network coverage of soccer. She provided analysis for ESPN2 during the 1995 and 1999 women’s soccer World Cups and was the color analyst for NBC’s 2000 Sydney Olympic coverage.
Amy and her husband, Jack Griffin, have two sons. Nicholas was born Sept. 30, 2001 and Benjamin was born Aug. 11, 2003.
