Syracuse men’s basketball: Orange assistant Allen Griffin named Head Coach of Boeheim’s Army

TBT and Syracuse is coming back in a bit way

Boeheim’s Army, the Syracuse Orange alumni team playing in The Basketball Tournament, announced its head coach on social media Tuesday. Current Syracuse men’s basketball assistant coach Allen Griffin will lead Boeheim’s Army on the sidelines.

Griffin has been the assistant coach assigned to Syracuse’s post players since April of 2017. He is a Syracuse alum himself, playing with the Orange from 1997 to 2001. Griffin is the second longest tenured coach on the Syracuse men’s basketball staff, spending 8 years on the Orange bench. Only current head coach Adrian Autry has been with the Orange coaching staff longer at 14 years.

Boeheim’s Army had been led by Ryan Blackwell in most of its previous nine attempts at TBT. Blackwell had been the head coach of Liverpool High School’s basketball team during his time as Boeheim’s Army head coach. He is currently an assistant for Siena’s men’s basketball team with fellow Syracuse alumni Gerry McNamara and Arinze Onuaku.

Boeheim’s Army has won TBT once in 2021, under Head Coach Jeremy Pope (currently an assistant coach at UT-Arlington). The team have already confirmed that Elijah Hughes, Buddy Boeheim, Chris McCullough and Rakeem Christmas will be on the roster. While not officially announced, Buddy all but confirmed that his brother Jimmy will be on the team as well. To cap off the Boeheim trifecta, Jim has joined the team as Head Coach Emeritus. The former Syracuse head man won’t be on the sidelines but will act as an advisor for the team.

Boeheim’s Army will host a TBT regional for the fourth time in the tournament’s history. The first rounds of the Syracuse regional this year will be at SRC Arena on the campus of Onondaga Community College. Boeheim’s Army did not field a team in 2024, missing the tournament for the first time since 2015.