Orion Names New Girls Basketball Coach.

Written Tuesday May 23rd at 12:30 PM
Updated Thursday May 25th at 9:00 PM

The Dragons have named their new Girls Basketball coach, but it’s not whom you think it is.

Orion named Mike Griffin as the new Varsity Girls Basketball Coach replacing Kevin Kopec last week.

Griffin brings a ton of Basketball experience, especially from the Boys side of things. He used to coach at Sterling Heights and was an assistant coach at Birmingham Detroit Country Day under coach Mark Bray.

Griffin is a teacher in Sterling Heights, it is not known if he will travel to Orion every day or not.

It will be a new challenge for Griffin coming to Orion as well coaching the Girls instead of the Boys.

The Dragons finished 8-13 last season losing to Waterford Kettering in the pre-district. They were bumped up from the White to the Red and have a ton of experience returning in Tessa Nuss, Paytin Shadaia, Sophie Canine, Sophie Wyborski, Cameron Coltrin, Sydney Strenger, Lauryn Van Loon, and Shannon Falter.

Thoughts.

I don’t know what to think about this move, he has a lot to prove to me. There are a ton of unanswered questions surrounding this coaching hire like how will the Girls respond to him???, Will the turmoil come back???, Can he win with this group now and in the future???, Can he be there for the Girls when they struggle???, How will he be in the community???, Can he make this team a State title contender and go deep into the postseason???

Yes, Griffin brings experience to this team but I have some concerns looking at his record when he was a Sterling Heights. His record when he coached at Sterling Heights is a bit alarming. Also, the division the Dragons will be in will not be easy, heading into the Red and going up against teams like Clarkston, Southfield Arts and Tech, North Farmington, and Stoney Creek.

In his three seasons at Sterling Heights he posted a 25-32 record, and has not necessarily fared well against other big schools when he was in the Macomb Area Conference. Griffin went 0-3 against Chippewa Valley in the postseason.

Now this is a different situation that Griffin has stepped into than the time he spent at Sterling Heights and at Birmingham Detroit Country Day. Orion has suffered a ton of turmoil surrounding this program in recent years. Everyone likes to move on from this, and I expect they will.

Experience matters, I’m not sure if Pandora’s Box has been opened. Could it be a Gene Chizik situation with Auburn for College Football with this hire, I don’t know???

We’ll find out.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest updates on this developing story.