The longest tenured and winningest coach in Alma College’s 131-year athletic history, Denny Griffin is the 11th individual from the softball program to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Griffin leads all Scots coaches with 1,032 head coaching victories.
His record of 1,032-432 ranks him as one of the most successful Division III coaches of all time. He is tied for 6th all-time in wins among DIII head coaches, and tied for 48th among the NCAA’s winningest softball coaches of all-time.
Denny earned his 1,000th career coaching victory with a thrilling 1-0 shutout win over Eastern University on February 27th, 2024. He became the 51st NCAA softball coach to reach the milestone, and he is just the 7th in the 50 year history of Division III to it the 1K mark.
Denny’s teams have won 15 MIAA championships, giving him the most titles of any coach in league history. In addition he has added 11 MIAA tournament titles, six NCAA regional championships, and one NCAA super regional championship. He has guided Alma to the NCAA National Finals on six occasions.
Between his two seasons as an assistant coach, and his 37 as head coach, Denny has coached 188 All-MIAA selections (96 First Team, 78 Second Team, 14 Honorable Mention). He has coached 11 MIAA Most Valuable Players, and four MIAA Most Valuable Pitchers. On the national stage, Griffin has coached 97 All-Region selections (50 First Team, 32 Second Team, 15 Third Team), and 19 All-Americans (six First Team, six Second Team, seven Third Team).
Denny led the program to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 1994. After missing the cut in ‘96, Alma reeled off nine consecutive appearances, the most prolific period in program history. In that nine-season time span the Scots went 321-76.
