In the ROK Podcast interview, legendary Oklahoma coach Tommy Griffin shared insights into his remarkable journey from a baseball-obsessed youngster to a highly successful multi-sport athlete and coach. Growing up, Griffin’s primary passion was baseball, and he harbored dreams of excelling in the sport. However, his athletic talents soon revealed themselves across various sports during his high school years.
In high school, Griffin showcased his dominance in both football and basketball. His exceptional performances on the field and court earned him numerous accolades and scholarship offers to play both sports at the collegiate level. Despite his initial love for baseball, it was his prowess in football and basketball that paved the way for his future career in sports.
Griffin chose to attend Northwestern Oklahoma State University, where he continued to excel in athletics. His outstanding contributions to the university’s sports programs led to his induction into the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Hall of Fame, a testament to his significant impact and lasting legacy.
Transitioning from athlete to coach, Griffin built an illustrious career in high school basketball. He has won a total of 12 state titles, with 8 as a head coach and 4 as an assistant coach. His coaching philosophy, commitment to developing players, and ability to build cohesive teams have made him one of the most respected figures in Oklahoma high school sports.
Tommy Griffin is also known for his sons, Taylor and Blake Griffin, both of whom have made their mark in basketball. Taylor Griffin played professionally, including a stint in the NBA, while Blake Griffin became an NBA superstar, known for his incredible athleticism and multiple All-Star selections. Tommy’s influence and guidance undoubtedly played a significant role in their development as athletes, carrying forward his legacy into the next generation.
The ROK Podcast interview highlighted not only Tommy Griffin’s impressive career and achievements but also his dedication to the sports community and his family’s profound impact on basketball.
Sean hey doing all right oh yeah life is good good is good I’ve been blessed so and before we get started man how’s my boy Willie he good he’s good our daughters just graduated together from played basketball they played softball together once a point in time it’s like the dads super athletes huh I don’t know if they super but they n they they they they they’re great they’re great that’s great let’s [Music] rock all right welcome to another episode of The Rock podcast this is where we we highlight and and we talk about and recognize Oklahoma Legends today I have with me one of the most prolific coaches in Oklahoma history he was a multiport superstar in high school as well as College he was inducted into the Northwestern State University Hall of Fame where he lettered in multiple Sports he has led multiple high schools to multiple state championships as a head coach and as an assistant coach he has been named coach of the year on multiple occasions he’s been inducted to numerous basketball hall of fames the father of of Oklahoma Superstars and Taylor and Blake Griffin and at John Marshall High School he was my DB coach and he was my head coach in basketball uh welcome to the Rock podcast the legendary Tommy Griffin how you doing coach I’m doing fine John thank you for that those nice words appreciate I thank you for um you know coming through and having some fun today you know oh yeah definitely so so what you been up to St just enjoying life yeah yeah yeah I mean I’m I’m coaching but I’m volunteer coaching okay okay so it’s not like I have to be there I’m there when I can make it but normally I’m probably there at least 90% of the time right right and do what I can right and you’re at um with Coach Hatchet right now at Dell City D City okay had a pretty good season last year it was if you think about what had happened the five years before then yeah it was it was okay season but it’s better than most most high schools in the state of Oklahoma and you know if you can help a guy uh help kids right that’s that’s the whole thing you’re not going to always be a state champion right I mean even though we love to be but we’re not going to always be yeah that was um you when you’re used to to winning you know you know you it’s disappointing to have a a actual good season so so yeah I know just playing with you coach you know that’s that’s what we did right what’s Taylor and Blake up to right now what are they doing uh well Taylor and Blake both live in LA okay they’re about five miles apart from each other and uh they still stand in contact Taylor is probably divided between three things one we have a what’s a traveling basketball team y That’s team Griffin and he’s basically the the Head Hunter in that situation okay but now he does have people that helps him MH but other than that you know he’s he stays pretty busy he also had a and I’m not going to go out and on a Lim because he was just working for a guy that was a pretty good guy that he knew and he’s it was pretty good but the whole point is is that he had to travel from LA to New York occasionally and that was it’s not an easy flight okay right so but anyway he’s now looking at another opportunity that’s open up for him to to okay for a job good good good um yeah I we know all about team Griffin um it’s kind of taking over Oklahoma well I w’t say taking over but it’s well known right this well it’s recognizable name and of course Blake Griffin and um so I remember those guys running around the gym when when you were when you were coaching us so that’s good stuff any any grandkids yet yes we five five okay three boy I mean three girls and two boys okay so who who’s okay Blake has a boy and a girl and Taylor has two girls and a boy okay I got you you do you get to see them much not as much as I like okay D they’re because they’re out in LA right because they’re in LA and occasionally they get here at least once a year and uh but his wife is also from Oklahoma she’s from Tulsa so naturally you know they’re GNA spend a little bit more time in Tulsa with his uh his wife’s okay family okay gotcha and how’s Miss Miss Gil doing oh she’s great she’s great yeah she’s oh yeah she’s doing a fantastic job as far as what she does and what she can do and so on and so forth okay yeah so yeah we’ve been we’ve been blessed we have been blessed every time I see her she just has a smile on her face you you can never tell that something’s wrong or something’s going on or something’s happening it’s a Miss Griffin I mean she’s just both y’all just always smile so but but that’s that’s how you got to be sometimes that’s how you got to be yeah I agree with that so before we get into the sports part of it so tell me tell me about Coach Griffin Tommy Griffin where where did you grow up okay grew up in Oklahoma City okay so I mean I’m not very far from Oklahoma no matter what I did okay okay so the thing is I grew up in uh Oklahoma City on the northeast side down on actually in First Street okay okay 541 and never forget that very you go so but anyway yeah we uh enjoyed our lives when I said we I’m talking about my family and my dad was a more of a workaholic okay I mean he worked hard all the time most of the time he had more than one job so he was uh pretty busy and we still and had a good life yeah but you know you’re not going to always be happy with what goes on and I know if I kind of I wish we had thought about it and had have known a little bit more about it we’d ask him let slow down yeah CU we rather have him in the long run than then say x amount of dollars cuz that’s what he made you know what I mean okay okay and uh I said we grew up we I say I grew up in Oklahoma and uh pretty much education in Oklahoma City Public Schools um first school was and they’re both now they’re not even around well one is one was Paige which used to be on Second Street and then the Deep Deuce as they call it now okay yeah and then the other one is on Seventh Street the building’s still there but it’s still not a school but it’s it was dunar okay and after that leaving dunor going to uh Moon MH and that was the moon ponies and after that went to uh Douglas okay well I didn’t know all those places before Douglas but yeah that’s that’s good stuff grown up did you did you did you have any siblings or was just was it no that’s one that’s a weird thing but my mom was 5’4 I’m 6’3 my dad was 6’2 and well you know my son’s are taller than that of course right but uh yeah she had a little bit of a problem I was a I was a big boy okay I was uh 10 lb 9 o wow and for a little lady that’s that’s that’s that’s a Lo that’s a whole lifestyle yeah right but uh yeah she uh just thought it wouldn’t be a good idea and the doctors thought that also cuz there’s a possibility that the next child would be even bigger they decided this one was enough so they threw a lot into me okay well there you go were they afraid to that that it could kill her or no no no I think it was just you know it wasn’t like it was a easy birth okay okay yeah I mean she went into labor and there was a lot of ow oh help and that type of stuff you know but yeah she no she was okay but she just didn’t want to go through it again I don’t blame I wouldn’t want to either right right what so so as as a young kid did you play any sports growing up and I mean what’s what how many how many sports did you play well let’s go back did I play any sports when I was in the sixth grade that’s the first time I played on a team cuz I wanted to play but my mom was more protective than anything cuz my dad had already my dad died when I was 10 okay I don’t know that so yeah so she was kind of protective and made sure that I was I guess you could say safe in most of the things I did uhhuh so so when I told her I wanted to play she said no no no no we’re not going to do that now what sport was it actually I just wanted to play baseball baseball hey that was my favorite sport yeah she just it was just one of those things that she just felt like it wasn’t the best thing for me so after me just answering questions like for example I wasn’t giving a lot but I would answer her questions cuz I wasn’t that bad yeah so anyway she was just saying he are you going to not you going to just not talk to me at all I said Mom I’m answering your questions right she said well no you know what I mean yeah and I knew what she meant but I didn’t go there I just left it like alone but yeah she was uh she a great lady very nurturing well most moms are but she was very nurtury but uh then she finally asked I said mom I really want to play baseball and I said I wanted to start doing some things that some of my cousins have doing and my cousins that I was talking about was in Alabama okay so they were all athletes I mean all of them girls and boys so but anyway she uh finally told me okay and I was I was so excited then it was it was just great time she did she get you all the equipment and the stuff that you needed we hey all we needed was a glove yeah and you pay your $5 for your cap and your T-shirt I wish $5 now for for these for to play sports yeah man well it was fun though I mean I enjoyed it right and it it was the right time because the guy played footb uh excuse me played baseball for was a friend of our family so he made sure that I did exactly what I needed to do and it took care of me b basically not saying that he’s going to give me anything but he wouldn’t let me get away with anything that’s how it used to be families watch over with the families right so was that guy you mentioned was he was he one of the guys that motivated you or kind of a role model did you have any role models growing up or I had quite a few but I mean to be totally honest no he wasn’t one of the people that that motivated me or drove me toward being who I am now but he was the kind of person that made sure that I was doing what I needed to do right right and like I said he knew the family he knew my dad knew my mom so I mean all that stuff was good so who who who were some of the the people that you looked up to well I mean and this could you may have to definitely edit this okay but uh I was my next SPO I went out for was uh basketball surprised I knew was coming up yeah but uh I got cut yeah there was like 106 it was 10 and something I think it was six it’s been quite a while ago 106 guys from uh our class going after the one okay and we only had the 11 okay okay so you know I got down to uh the we were in the 15s I was thinking I got this made cuz I never actually had played for a basketball team before so I’m thinking I’m going to make the team and we got down to the last cut and I was the last one that was on the team and they cut me man and so I mean that’s one of those things you learn to deal with and I’m I’m actually kind of glad it happened it made me understand that you don’t take anything for granted you just got to give what you can actually just talking with with Coach cones Leroy and he mentioned that his first time ever playing basketball he lost that game and he said that right there he didn’t want to have that feeling no more so that kind of made him the the competitor and and and have that drive to to do what he wanted to do or be winner well he was definitely that absolutely absolutely um was it a dream of yours to play bask professional sports no uh not at all no when during the time that I was coming up we had and we had old black and white TV and we didn’t get a lot of uh Pro Sports okay matter of fact even there weren’t very many of the college like OU OSU type games on television either so no I didn’t even think about playing pro I just like I enjoyed playing so you know and and don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining about any parents but parents now think that well you know hey my son could be a LeBron James okay maybe he could be a laan James not a LeBron but a laan James yeah yeah so I mean it’s not you got to understand it it takes Talent man and well there are a lot of things it takes but that’s one of the things you have to have ex absolutely and you have to be coachable that’s another thing coming into high school you know went to Douglas High School I think I think 95% of African-American people least I mean went to Douglas High School I mean no no no no that was 100% 100% so no well tell me about Douglas I mean I know there history Douglas we were like predominantly black yeah the only other predominantly well there are several others but the ones that we saw we we tosa Washington was our Rivals okay yeah so I mean there was two black predominant schools M and uh we played against each other all the time and almost every sport almost not every sport but almost okay so but it was one of those situations that uh you you look back now and say man I’m glad that happened MH and I mean tulson was tough they the tradition I mean they were tough and it were just one of those things that you think well we were glad to be in the game but uh it was we just enjoyed everything that we did and it was we had good coaching too but you know a lot of times in order to be successful you got to have some super athletes right and if they’re not super they done show better be good good yeah so if they’re good and they work hard and they can do some things you were a multisport athlete at Douglas so football football swimming swimming track baseball and one year basketball basketball one one year okay how did you get a scholarship to to Northwestern to play basketball or you oh no that was from junior college that was from Junior College yeah I when I left I did have three scholarship offers from high school in basketball okay even though I played that one year my senior year so there was three guys that looked and saw well he’s we might want to take a chance on him yeah because of football how you performed in football no just playing basketball the one year playing basketball okay and also two of them saw me play in the uh YMCA National Tournament yeah I think it was L Rock Arkansas so and I don’t know how you remember that because I mean that was three years and me not being in the open right I mean it’s just I don’t know maybe it’s just one of those things that sometimes God puts you in a position or puts other people in positions to remember who you are so I only had three offers okay and one of them was Northern the other one was uh uh Oklahoma City Southwestern okay and which is that’s that didn’t last very long it was let’s see they closed that in the late 7 no early 70s and that was one of the offers and then the other one was uh now I can’t think of the name of it golly that’s what happens when you get old you slept you slept since then yeah was was baseball your favorite sport no throughout the what was football football okay I always thought I was a football player yeah and when I went to uh junior college he’ll show you how stupid I was and I’m I’m using the word stupid okay okay so when I went to uh school I was going I decided to go ahead and go to Tulsa University because things were better for me overall at Tulsa than it was an OU or o you with you okay and don’t put me wrong and don’t get me wrong they were good schools right right but I wasn’t ready for that yet okay and a good friend was uh Ben Hart you probably heard him I I played against his son yeah we coach right okay so but he’s uh he helped me out told me that uh you know if you you’re thinking about playing you got to understand that you’re going to be going against guys that have been playing forever they’re going to be good wide receivers and and that’s why I was supposed to be a wide receiver okay so uh how big were you what was your size like I was 180 lbs and that you can tell that was many pounds many pounds ago yeah me too yeah so but uh but you 63 63 okay yeah and could jump and very competitive and strong yeah so all those things kind of added up in my favorite were you a Class Clown were you you I really wasn’t a Class Clown I mean there was certain classes that I I enjoyed being in and I felt relaxed to do different things yeah but no not really a Class Clown no okay okay so you you straight books you had pretty good GPA and all that stuff oh yeah except for my junior year uhoh what happened well you know after a while like your first year I was student councel second year same thing okay and that was all dealing with grade points okay and I got the big head thinking that I was a pretty good athlete and my grades went down so my mom told me she said well and I’m not going to tell you how she told me but let just say she told me she said you know if you’re not going to do what you need to do and what you said you were going to do then I’m going to take you out of sports and that’s all she had to say that’s all you to said but by that time I’d already messed up one semester and I was into the second semester but I was thinking okay I I’ll get this done and I I finished strong so but no other than that one year everything else was really good grad do you remember some of the best athletes that you played against like who was some of the the greats that you played or you remember back in you played oh man there were so many of them um okay like I mentioned Ben Hart Ben yeah okay Connie Sledge you probably heard of him I heard yeah okay his brother Charles Sledge and I didn’t get a chance to play with them but I didn’t I saw them from a distance okay okay cuz I mean they were seniors okay okay Stan white who’s the football coach at douglas douglas yeah and uh there were several other guys but then you go into junior year and you got Connie Sledge oh golly there’s so many guys that I’m going to butcher their names probably but yeah I was I was fortunate enough to watch a lot of good athletes you know how you hear some people say you weren’t good enough to well as just say you weren’t good enough to wear his so and so oh Jo yeah okay so and I I wasn’t hey it is hey things happen for a reason I guess so tell me what your recruiting like was like you said you had three three scholarship offers just in basketball right so what were the other scholarship off scholarship yes um football was the the main thing yeah I had quite a few football offers only three of them were D1 and that was all in the state one reason why is because when I finally got recog I shouldn’t said that that sounds bitter when I was recognized I played against Tulsa in Tulsa high school and they had super athletes so and uh one guy I can’t remember his name but anyway I caught a pass that’s when they tackle eligible type thing when I was playing tackle in high school at that point I was visiting the and I’m not going to use the coach’s name but I was visiting the coach in in uh OU and he was telling me and because I had no idea I really didn’t but uh I said so you want me to play footb football here he said yeah I said well I’m not that good in football I I like football he said well you know what let me say it this way you caught a pass and you put butt now I put butt in where he said but you put butt in those three track guys face wow because the all four of the defensive backs were on the state championship uh 4 by one team okay yeah yeah okay so and you smoked them huh well not really smoked them but the one guy caught me on the basine on the uh oh okay okay and the other two I did I don’t know how I did it but some way they probably slipped so yeah but uh yeah it was it was fun and I enjoyed it and that’s what I always thought I was a football player I didn’t think about any other sports except for I like to play those sports but I didn’t think about any other sport at that point I had no idea that freshman couldn’t play Varsity Sports oh in college okay yeah so I’m thinking that uh I knew I wouldn’t be to make OU team immediately because they had some super athletes I didn’t think I can make osu’s team same situation okay okay but then I felt really good about tussel and the coaches seeming to feel pretty good about me also so I’d already here’s so I signed my scholarship myom had to send it home my mom my mom sent it back so I was going to go to you okay but then I found out that I couldn’t play freshman ball so I was that kind of upset me yeah I mean I they didn’t tell you that it was kind of after the fact they thought I knew oh okay so I mean but you know you got to be smart enough to know these things I wasn’t smart enough to know it let me just say that I don’t think any of us at that age yeah kind of okay but anyway we uh after that happened uh we talked to uh the coach at that time I’m not going to mention any names but we talked to the coach that time and I told him I said you know I don’t want to just practice right he said well that’s how you get better I said yeah that’s fine but I I like I don’t mind can I get better playing too right so I asked him if they had a fresh frh team he they did have freshman team but didn’t have very many games they had two games for the whole year for freshman so I asked him what else I could do and he told me well we can send you to Junior College MH and if you go to Junior College you’ll get a chance to play nine or more games okay so that’s why I ended up going to Northern where where did Northwestern Oklahoma State come in that was after my my sophomore year at done College yeah I was getting ready to graduate and uh I was thinking which school I wanted to go to okay and I was actually well I really wanted to go to Hawai okay that’s that’s I me you know and don’t who doesn’t want to go to I agree but my mom told me she said and we were real close after my dad died we were real close she said no I rather have you in the state yeah and I if we can’t get you in the state I want you even closer well I like to have you closer right so uh I ended up looking at the schools and the ones that I thought was really good Was northwestern Northwestern at that time was in the top three in in uh teaching okay and I wanted to be a teacher got you did they recruit you or I mean did they northest northest yeah yeah they did okay so what was your what was your transition like between from from high school to to college as far as the the competition the athleticism I mean you already athletic so what tell me how that how that was going into in into college well here’s the good thing about me if you’re stupid enough to think you can do something you can do it you can do it yeah yeah so I mean I wasn’t I wasn’t a great athlete but I was okay athlete I was pretty good I mean as far as the strength the speed and the determination I had those so from my transition from high school to Junior College was a lot smooth really smoo and then my transition from Junior College to fouryear school I mean that was that was a breeze yeah cuz I ran across some guys in junior college that were really good because in junior college you had a lot of those guys that couldn’t make their grades and you played against some really good ball players yeah you had to be ready because you never know when grades will they casualties I agree you were also a multiport athlete in college right um so tell me about that you play football you ran you did some track events right as well and and basketball so my freshman year I was there to play basically football okay and then at the end of the football season my football coach one of my football coaches was also the basketball coach and he said and he’s one of the guys that offered me a scholarship when I was in high school cuz he thought I could play basketball right so he asked me to come out for basketball cuz he needed some help okay so I did so when the season’s over I went out and played basketball and really enjoyed it yeah he’s one of the best coaches that I’ve had from at that level and he’s died about oh gosh five six years ago okay and uh well and I’m this is not causing any problems but his name Cecil Perkins he was the end he was the athletic director and golf coach at Southwestern but he had also coached football at Southwestern and some other things but that he was tremendous good so I he didn’t let us get away with anything and I’m I’m glad he didn’t because we at that point we need some we need a Stern division playing multiple Sports as many sports as you did how did you how did you handle your academics how did that I guess that’s the way you are you you’re pretty serious guy you take care of business well you’re right pretty much yeah my mom was the whole driving Factor behind that right okay so she said you know as long as you do your grades that’s when I was telling you I was pouting around the house and everything that was another part of it okay so she said as long as you keep your grades we’re good yeah have no problem that’s carried on in the right so and like I said that one year I fell because I I got big head thinking oh hey I’m not bad at all I can do this yeah but then she brought me back to Earth of course yeah I I uh my mom almost took me off the set I came back in my first semester in college I almost didn’t make it and you better get you better get back in them books right as far as game days a concerned whether it’s basketball or football or baseball or whatever sport that you were playing did you have a a specific thing that you did like a like a pregame ritual or like what did you do on game days to prepare we had to eat breakfast okay and breakfast open up at 6:30 and it closed at 8:00 so you had to be there between 6:30 and 8: okay was the man at atory by the coach or you just no no you had to be there okay and I’m going to leave it like that okay so and cuz I mean you know you’re there you you it’s free for you it’s not really free for you but it’s provided to you by your scholarship right so my mom told me she said well you know they’re going to give you the breakfast go eat breakfast get up right so yeah I would eat breakfast and then I would go back to my room and if I had time if I had a class that was like 10:00 I probably get back in bed take a nap okay but if not I’m I’m going on to class yeah yeah so and then you know you had lunch then you had dinner but at Northern okay we had good F good food okay but at Northwestern on game day we had big Stakes oh Big Steaks okay I can relate I oh man I mean seriously it it was it was really nice okay yeah so we enjoyed that we really did for a game um you had thought you know I had all your meals um was were there anything things that you like did or Envision what you doing you you’re going to do during the game or just I mean just or you just kind of zone out before game well no not really zone out but our situation was at that time everybody there pretty much was very serious right very serious okay so we didn’t have a lot of playing around not before game right or like before practice oh heck yeah so much Harse playing going on but you know but before a game we were very serious so we get there we get taped yeah we could take a nap or just close our eyes and listen to the music that was on we had radio we didn’t have no no beats or nothing like that yeah but uh it it was always fun cuz you’re with you your Bros okay do you have any memorable game moments um yeah quite a few but uh just sport that’s not the problem um Let’s do let’s do basketball this time okay basketball yeah we were getting ready to play in The Regionals at uh or Roberts and we were playing the number two team in our conference which was uh St Gregs and St Gregs had an outstanding coach and he was uh coach something he was uh he was just a Legend So anyway we just felt like okay we’re going to get and these are the players we got together and we’re thinking okay this is what we have to do to be able to beat these guys and we had a lot to do because they had super athletes the three teams that had the best athletes in our conference was St Greg Northeastern A&M and what was that oh and uh Cameron that’s when Cameron was stay of J Junior College the agies okay yeah so but we kind of got together and just enjoyed what was going on but we also talked about okay now you know he likes to do this and that and this is kids these are kids it’s not coaches well it really was coaches cuz all we were doing is repeating what they had told us okay so we just kind of keep everything on their minds right okay but we did we certainly ended up losing but we only lost about one point here’s the good thing about it and it’s it’s kind of funny the tallest guy we had on our team was 6’8 wow okay and the tallest guy on uh St Greg’s team was seven foot man then they had a 610 and so on and so forth so but you know the thing is we played them and played them well and like I said we we should have won but we didn’t okay and you know it’s always one of those things you’ll say man if he had a call that would have been okay why didn’t he come but still it was it was fun and uh that’s the one we prepared for as a as players yeah this day and age we have like name image and likeness n what are your thoughts concerns Pros cons or whatever I mean what do you think about we didn’t have any of that kind of stuff no I mean we we were happy if we had a ship but the whole point is is I don’t I don’t know that much about it I am not an authority on that kind of thing but I know when you’re in college you need money oh absolutely now I don’t know what’s the uh contracts are but I know there’s money to be had and so therefore I’m not against it yeah I think it’s something that probably should have taken place but I’m not going to say that’s what it was for sure yeah okay yeah yeah we it’s I’ve had several discussions on it and I would have loved to have had you know I’m you know when I got to college you know I can see my number on the game NCAA football game yeah you know man that’s that’s me I’m playing you know you know but you know I just man they getting paid all those millions of dollars selling this game right you know so but yeah I nowadays is you can do anything you can you know wear a hat and get paid for it you know for a business I hear so I I I believe it’s cool what do you think about transfer uh portal what you for colleges and I know people are not going to really enjoy hearing this but I’m I’m not in favor of it no I I agree it gives kids the opportunity well you know I don’t like this coach or I don’t like this so I’m going to transfer mhm and if it’s if it’s uh if it’s more than just I don’t like right yeah I could see it yeah but uh other than that I’m not in favor of it it’s created a lot of of of um conf controversy yeah and you know it’s kind of hard for kids to get recruited out of high school you know you know it’s easy for you know colleges to get another kid that has already played a year or two in college that experience yeah experience and now you you know kids are just kind of wondering I had an interview with um a young lady she’s going to Utah and her name is Avery Gad she chose Utah and she had a very she said I I waited till they closed their transfer transfer portal and she want she’s like okay do they always recruit out of the portal do they or do they just do Straight high school kids that was what she was that’s what she liked about them yeah they didn’t go into the portal all the time and they wanted to get new kids coming out of high school and like that’s still pretty deep for a high school kid yeah I told her that I said that’s I said did you have somebody helping you with that or no I just she was very enlightening and I said I’m I might be your first nil deal then you come back and come back and help me with these younger kids um so I thought that was that was pretty cool um after your college Years you did you ever did you ever get a chance to play pro pro ball or next level uh well yes you did okay but now my first contact with Pros basically basically was uh in football MH and then I had won my first year at classing in basketball okay but the basketball thing was it was I I think it was more of a legend than anything cu the guys that I played for in the Chicago group and well it wasn’t really a Chicago base but the team folded out of uh Saratoga M but I’m not sure that that’s been been a long time ago okay so but anyway yeah I had a chance to play a little bit there and the good thing about it is that when I played it was it works well enough that my high school cuz I was coaching okay so the high school had already finished okay and my baseball I mean my track coach head coach was uh my head basketball coach so he understood he said you know hey Follow that dream so that’s when I realized that you know I could do this but I also realized too that teams were so volatile as far as being liquid one day and not liquid the next day type thing right so I didn’t want that I wanted to make sure I had money coming in right right I for some for some reason back when I was in high school when you were coaching us for some reason I remember you mentioning getting a being able to hit Warren Moon did you did you have did you have did you play it against him I mean where was he where was he playing it he was oh was Canada or yeah it was in Canada and I can’t remember was well man that’s I say that’s long ago my mind is not I I know I thought I remember that you telling us that that you got a chance to hit or sack War moon or something like that but you play or played against them um so how tell me about your your Canada days well it didn’t last very long okay cuz uh here’s the thing you know it’s it was so Cutthroat then well let me go ahead and get this in yeah we had a scrimmage okay uh came in on a this is how sh who you who you playing with oh [Music] uht Montreal okay man this m is co anyway but uh yeah I was playing Montreal and we had them and we scrimmaged and it was all control okay so anyway I I’m playing defensive end well defensive end/ linebacker okay depends on what they were in to determine what I was going to right right right so anyway we were playing against them and I had a really good game I had three knockdowns two knockdowns uh two hares no one hary one interception and two sacks all in one game in one game yeah and the game was control that’s kind of okay got you so I felt pretty good about that so I’m going to sleep that night and feeling good and thinking okay that’s fine yeah so the next morning I got up and uh getting ready to go to well I went to breakfast okay uh then left practice they said hey coach wants to talk to you I said okay all right so this could be extended contract but then anyway I got there and he was telling that uh he said that uh we’re got to let you go I said what let me go he said yeah we’re going to have to let you go and it wasn’t until I got down into the dressing room where all the guys were they were cuz it was right after breakfast and they were getting ready to go for practice okay so uh I found out that one of the younger players uhuh and let me put preface this I was 32 at the time okay okay so kind of considered old in in playing days little Sho hey that’s considered old anyway I mean well I mean but I mean yeah if you look at 32 compared to 22 yes and 22 has many years ahead of them right 32 may be that rest of the end the rest of this year or maybe not yes and if you have a good and I didn’t have an agent but if you have a good Agent he’s gonna talk you up yeah and he knows all the buttons to push and pull and so on and so forth so I was through that was history yeah it was history I I think there was I when I looked at your your coaching resume and and it may not have had them all all the places that you’ve been but but it seemed like there a trend where everywhere you went you were an assistant coach first and then became head coach is that was that consistent through all the spots no where you ever hir just straight As a head coach from uh yes okay okay because I I was like I was looking at the resume maybe I didn’t look fur further enough no well in your lifetime okay but after that I was looked at as being a head coach okay when I was at classing I was hired to be an assistant coach right okay assistant coach in football and in basketball okay okay and then uh at John Marshall I know you came under Davis right first and I was haded to be his assistant right but then after that some things happened and I became a head coach okay yeah then OCS I was head coach okay you didn’t go in as an assistant there first okay well I yeah I did and I didn’t okay okay but here’s the thing I was an assistant but I still had pull if something wasn’t right I just need to say it okay but here’s the thing I didn’t want to say anything that would hurt somebody’s feelings but the thing is when you’re young and you haven’t had a s any success at being a head coach right A lot of times you going to have some the wrong things yeah so yeah he had been there for seven years and hadn’t had a hadn’t qualified for State at all nowhere close yeah it adjusted for me that first year and anytime I saw him doing something wrong I told him and say you know we if we’re going to be successful we need to do it this way and and it was good because he was open right right so and we had a good year we won state that first year matter of fact how many how many state titles have you won as a head coach as a head coach uh eight eight okay how so I like to say 81 so one is an assistant right there no it’s silver one’s a silver eight is gold ball one yeah I was that silver ball our class we were that silver ball yeah but you know what though and I and you know this and I think it may have been you that saying that you know if they had let Willie play his brand of basketball man they put him in foul trouble the first three minutes three minutes I’m like golly that’s I had to come off the bench of course and take up some slack but but we man we lost that game by one point I still remember that yeah it was bad but you know hey there’s nothing you can do about it you got to do things like that and you just have to learn how to live with it but so so eight gold balls and one silver as an assistant coach how many have you been a part of uh four and six four Golds and six Silvers hey so you had 12 12 gold balls under under your you’re in umbrella man that’s that’s phenomenal I wish I could take credit for that but you know there’s two guys that were way better than me oh um B Franklin Franklin yes yeah bur’s the the winning this coach yes yes and then the other one was in Tulsa coach Harris Nate Harris okay okay yeah Nate Harris yeah okay so take us back to the First State title with the class in comments what was that that that first title what was that experience like for you I mean well it was I’m going to say nerve-wracking was okay i’ never been in that situation before so but you know I didn’t want to let people down that was my whole key right there I didn’t want to let anybody down and I wanted to make sure I’m doing the best I could so I just I worked hard at it and uh right after the game we go back home I’m back to school and and the kids going home and I’m in the office thinking okay this is what we need to do and so on so and so and so and then Coach Daniels Maurice Daniels was an assistant and matter of fact he’s been with me every one of those state championships exactly so the thing is I was telling him I said this I need to make sure we have everything covered M and you know and you know coach Daniel so you know how he is oh oh I was going going to talk about yeah yeah but uh yeah he was telling me he said yeah well I think we got it covered yeah I said well I don’t want to think I don’t want to think about it I want to make sure we got it MH so we when we stepped into that championship game we were ready right I mean that’s why the game wasn’t open up like it did so and the team we beat was aah they knocked out two of our uh cross town opponents which was Southeast that was the first one and then the second one I can’t remember who it was but anyway they beat those two and they ended up in the championship and we ended end up in Championship we end winning you’ve coached you’ve coached numerous athletes uh that are playing at the next level when you see them and when you see guys from the past like myself Willie and Tony herd Joe Atkins right what goes through your head when you when you see us just well the thing is and I and this is going to sound really silly because of the words I’m going to use but Pride okay and I really don’t deserve to have pride when it’s talking about you guys but now I do get excited by seeing you guys play it not Mak any difference whether it’s College yeah Pro or whatever I just enjoy seeing you guys play so I’ve always had fun watching that and then when I had my sons they came through that was another level of Pride oh yeah yeah so I I’ve enjoyed everything that’s taking place I’ve had the experience to coach my sons um in sports and and but not at the level of of your sons I mean they’re they both of them went to the NBA and living out lived after their dream and of course Taylor uh did he did he get injured or what yeah he did that’s what ended his career yeah and um so he messed his ankle up and uh it was surgery right right and he was coming along and he told me he said he said Dad I’m I’m G to I’m going to leave basketball I said so what’s situation he said you know I can’t move I can’t jump like I used to I’m not as fast as I used to be them boys jump but uh and I told him I said you know if this is what you feel and I’m with you don’t have to worry about it yeah so but yeah he did and he had a fairly good football career I don’t know if I ever told you that no I didn’t know he played football yeah he played football at OCS okay yeah he was a wide receiver and he played well actually he was more of a tight end wide receiver type because they could move him out and bring him in and so on and so forth I didn’t not know he played football yeah Blake did too Blake did too okay winning four straight titles with with your sons uh did you ever have that feeling where you could just sit back and just let him play like you like you were Phil Jackson and and and mean in in high school in high schol at OCS were we trying to win yeah of course yeah okay were we trying to win no I’m not going to let you do you just let them dudes play man they no but you know I know most people think that you could do that yeah and it really is not I’m I’m making a joke about it but yeah I think like the talent that those two POS I didn’t even I don’t didn’t know any other other guys on the team but just to to watch highlights of them and see them play and of course you’re you’re on the ground floor you’re in the trenches with them because you’re coaching them probably was was easy to just let them guys go out there they probably dominated every game um pretty much yeah yeah but you know we’ve had we let’s see they were was 29 and0 and I think we had three games it was not double figure win okay just three three yeah in four years and no just senior yearor year Taylor Senior Year and Blake sophomore year okay okay now as far as the four years we were what 110 and six yeah 110 and six but you know hey it also takes you got to be fairly blessed to get that way because injuries can knock that out quickly quick yeah quick so coach Daniels man he’s he’s been your assistant coach for for most of your times wherever man I we we we love coach d boy I tell you what coach Daniels is is unique yes and and uh I remember I used to tease I said hey you know what when we were young but we be in the same crib I said he he stole my Binky a lot I said you know hey but you know that’s not true though but you that’s what we used to say okay so we go way back in other words okay yeah and yeah he’s been with me for a long time matter of fact we were assistant at first coach Davis’s last year at uh class okay and we knew that one of the well we thought that the job would go to either him or me okay and I think the reason why I went to me is because I had been there for three years previous to that so I had more High School experience so but otherwise I think he probably would have made a pretty good coach yeah I mean not probably but he yeah yeah I mean he’s you guys would had were a great Tandem and and uh I I never forget man I mean Co in practice or games coach coach D had a choice good choice selection of words he had a nice little vocabulary but it was it would I mean we’d be in the Huddle just trying to hold our laughs in and like what is he gonna say next we just come to we come to practice just to listen to him just talking yeah and coaching but uh man coach d man that that was he was um blessing to have you guys as coaches man and and uh you know I hate that he had to go through that with his with his sons and things like that and that was uh that was that was a tough time it really was and um man yeah yeah I remember talking about that and hearing about it but uh he’s he’s been strong he’s been strong he’s been strong and I think one of the things that helped him is that he had a chance to still coach yeah well he was coaching a coach with Coach Tulie for a little bit in yeah at SEO s yeah yeah so and here’s and I’m going to say this but his last year which was not this past year but the year before uhuh you know they went to the they went to uh Nationals okay yeah I mean that was the best team they had man they get home and they go into the office and they fir them I thought man you know um his wife I work with his wife Sherry Tulie okay and she told me that that that same what you just said they had one of the best seasons and they bring they come on he’s fired like what what how why why is what I wanted that make sense but still hey um things are greater than us man you you are a very strong man well you know I distinctly remember so you know how thick a dang ping pong paddle is yeah I don’t know if you I don’t know if you remember there I don’t know how you got to hand your hands on on on the ping pong paddle but you were so mad you had that ping pong paddle in your hand and you just snapped it in half you don’t remember I don’t remember oh and that’s what I forgot to bring I was going to bring a p a pingpong paddle from home cuz there at least about four or five layers of wood and just to see you were just sitting there and you were you and Coach D were just sit next to each other and I we we were scared cuz I don’t know if we were losing or what what was going on uh cuz we didn’t lose a lot you know so that’s right and you you had that thing in your hand and it just I looked at Willie Willie looked at me and and we all looking at each other I’m like we in trouble man we about to die we about to die but no man um there was also one time where no let me go to let me go to football real quick okay let me go to football there was one day in practice you remember Randy Lis yeah Randy lws do you remember slamming him to the ground he did something he pissed you off he he was talking noise to you or something like that and you just you you grabbed him by his chest and you just mashed him to the ground and you kept him there until he came calm down and he was swinging and trying to get up and this and that and you was just one hand just C him down I said man cuz this dude is a superum man just man run was a big dude you know compared to me yeah but um yeah you don’t remember that at all I have no no no recollection man there was some sometimes yeah there was some good times man how long did you coach football 2 years was okay and basketball 27 years so both I was at the same time you just coach okay oh no no not at the same time yeah I got 54 total years okay as far as teaching and coaching okay gotcha gotcha so when I stopped coaching uh basketball I was just B basically started pretty much into football that were hey we had a lot of fun yes some good ball players and some kids that give you everything they had that’s all you ever asked for yeah right right you had the pleasure of coaching Julius Jones right and in basketball and and football and football you know he was of course he was a great kid I remembered um playing with his older brother so I his their dad coached me in football in Little Leagues with Julius um what were your thoughts what what went through your head when you heard that’s what happened with that situation uh you know the murder and and admin and stuff well first of all I was shocked M and I’m still not sure that that’s exactly how it happened and I’m not going to go into anybody else’s name but there was another guy that was with him that was at that came from another school to our school yeah and I thought maybe he was the influencing Factor but I’m not sure and I don’t want to go in that’s why I never mention those type names I don’t want to I don’t want to talk about somebody especially behind their backs now if you’re here and you’re right there and I’m going to say this is what happened that’s as far as I’m going to go but I didn’t think that uh he was capable of it no and I know sometimes you push your you can push somebody to a certain level or certain uh what say level yeah and sometimes that happens yeah but I I can’t guarantee it right yeah but I I still believe in Julius oh oh absolutely absolutely but I talked to several people that were trying to get him out of there when it first happened right okay and uh so I can’t and I hate that I don’t remember the person’s name but anyway they had a she had a whole group of people that were working on trying to get him released or trying to get them to look at all the evidence all the evidence right yeah so but uh yeah I’m I don’t know I’m just glad that uh it ended up like it did but I would sure rather see him out instead of just not on death row exactly yeah I to totally agree let’s talk about your your boys Sons uh obviously Blake Blake Griffin has become you know in Oklahoma icon as far as basketball is concerned and one of the most prolific dunkers and and players that the NBA has ever seen yeah um I saw like I said I remember seeing him just walking around the gym with you know what a about little basketball all just you know upright and him and his brother and just just little professional men walking around you know but you know of course that comes from Mom and Dad that but that’s how that’s how you work and when I saw saw them in in in at at that point in time in high school and then I go through college I played you know play at Oklahoma State play some Arena Football here and there and the next time I see them they’re playing at OU you know I had heard about them winning championships at at at OCS but I I never really saw them physically and when I saw them at OU I’m like God do that’s coach Griffin times three you know boy boys is big and and U just watching them play and and um and just remember seeing them that little and and small is a of course you know their Excellence is a reflection of you your wife when they reach the NBA um how often were you guys able to attend games or um go watch and play was it was it well when they both say that was 609 okay so we didn’t get chance to see a lot of games CU they played Taylor was in Phoenix and Blake was in LA right so we didn’t get a chance to see a lot of them but the first game we really went to and Blake couldn’t play cuz he had that knee problem yeah he cracked his knee or something yeah yeah so and then we went to and they were playing on Christmas day so we went um Phoenix and stayed with Taylor and then after that we all went to the game together okay and and we just enjoyed it we enjoyed life good you know there’s blessings and you have to understand what a blessing is cuz you can’t appreciate a blessing unless you’re willing to understand what it is right so we didn’t get a chance to do a lot with them but uh good experience oh heck yeah I mean I wouldn’t I would love to see guys and I tell when I think I’m with Coach hat at Dell City and I was telling him I said you know if you get a chance to coach your son and daughter take advantage of it because that’s one of the things that a lot of people can’t appreciate but uh he’s done a good job he has the two talented kids too yes yes yes um what so did did those two ever fight like at home like if you ever have to break up fights with them no I didn’t have to break up fights the fights took place while I was at work oh okay they wouldn’t do it when you was at home oh no no because U all she had to do is say hey wait for your dad to get home so I mean they they like this wait for your dad to get home I’m just playing man I’m just playing but uh yeah they they had fights yeah and I I like that about they were both competitive yeah so it’s just one of those things I mean it’s a part of life okay did you did you ever but butt heads with them I mean just yeah they wanted to do it their you have to Jack him up like you did Randy that’s not scratch that part but no I mean no I don’t think so uh and they were Bas both respectful but uh they also knew that that I was doing this and I wasn’t trying to do it for myself but a lot of times you know people look at say oh he just wants to make himself look good H okay that could be true but that’s not my main objective my objective was to teach you and or anybody how to play the game and you got to understand that it’s a lot more to uh winning than it is well it’s a lot more the winning than it is losing and I know that sounds really weird right that’s so I mean you got to do some things that you wouldn’t normally do to win whereas in losing what the heck you know right you have you seen the the movie series uh Back to the Future oh yeah Michael J fox and then say for instance you get in you get in a DeLorean you go back to your freshman year in high school okay what would you and you see yourself as a freshman what what advice would you give freshman Tommy Griffin good question I as a freshman I think I gave everything that I was supposed to have I mean supposed to give okay okay freshman year I played football on the freshman team uh well I don’t know maybe I would have changed the position cuz I played center my my freshman year okay but the reason why I played center is because I got there late I was going to go to Central okay but then I was at practice and they told me that you you need to go ahead and turn your stuff in because you’re not really in our district okay so you can’t go to school here you need to go over to Douglas so that would be one of the things but uh and see reason I was going there because Maurice is there because Daniels is there okay so we all talked about playing together so that didn’t work out but it’s okay that’s and then my my first my freshman sophomore junior year I was swimmer M so I did pretty well there I don’t think it was anything I would have said or could have done that would have made that different and track I I think I gave my best there too you being a coach you know all about games and contest and it’s all about momentums right momentum shifts or we can you can maintain the momentum through the whole game and win um but tell me about a time in your life that there was a major momentum shift that that whether it was good or bad positive or negative well one of the things that I think that really caused me problems M was your senior Year my senior year your senior year okay we’re playing in the state championship and I’m not going to mention the team they were playing against but you know what happened there yeah and I’m thinking and why would somebody we were playing Toph Bishop Kelly I wasn’t G to say the name Kelly but uh and uh them same refs did it in well one of the yeah one of the officials the one the bad the one that was really but he kind of cheated in in that other tossa tournament I forgot what it was tourament Champions yeah I’m like yeah I I’ll say it I don’t know the ref’s name but but well I know his name but I’m not going to mention it but but okay but the thing is that was the one time that I felt like oh God and I felt sorry for you guys you guys deserve to win that game as well as the championship game yeah I mean seriously I I yeah I and I’m not saying that because you’re sitting here I’m just telling you the truth you should have won that the championship game in the Tournament of Champions as well as the state tournament absolutely absolutely we it it stains a little bit every time I yall see the gold silver ball in the in the hallway like man didn’t they write a in Ossa write a letter to you apologizing about it or something or yeah they did can we discuss that that had nothing to do with how I felt okay I mean seriously it they wrote it they well they actually wrote it to our principal okay cook yes and uh so and then she shared it with us but at that point you don’t want to hear that yeah you just want to say why wouldn’t somebody just do what they’re supposed to do and do it because that’s what they were paid to do exact exactly so you help one group to win something that probably didn’t deserve and then you take something away from a group that needed to or should have won because you felt like it should go the other way yeah so and oh gosh was he the same rep that got Willie in trouble trouble oh yeah oh God and I’m not going well another episode you remember how he got his first three fouls playing defense yeah and the little guy that was uh point guard and no names called anyway he was dribbling and then when he got close to Willie was it pom I’m not going to call any names so anyway he gets close to Willie then the arm goes up he makes contact with Willie he makes contact with right and next thing you hear so I said okay Willie give him a little give him a little bit Yeah okay and will he did he stayed in the game another 30 seconds 30 seconds but still you know what I’m talking about yeah so yeah and then by that time and here’s what I really made me mad I well there a lot of things made me mad as far as that goes after he got those three fouls on Willie M he never put a hand up again to try to stop it then he started playing like what we knew he was supposed to play yeah cuz he he didn’t protect the ball right and Willie would had a feel he probably would had to couple several steals yeah pick poet it’s one of those things I I you guys were fantastic seriously yeah appreciate it and I just I hate that that happened because that’s not fair it’s not fair but you know what life is not fair right I deal with but you know what coach you know is because of you it you being our coach and the way you did things as a coach and I’ve always looked up to you uh because you know you you instilled a lot in us whether it was football basketball or just life you know we’d come to your class and and just talk and you and Coach Daniels and we just have fun you’re you’re a legend I I know you won’t take credit for it or whatever but that’s that’s how you are but you are a legend in your own time right here you’re a living legend and giving you your flowers now I appreciate what you’ve done you know I don’t want to wait to say it you know when when we’re all Dead and Gone Um well hey I appreciate that I appreciate you coming by and anytime you think I can help you out I’m not talking about being on podcast but if that’s somebody you want me to get in contact with or whatever let me know Taylor and Blake we can do that I can I can all do his ass [Music] oh
