Rohsaan Griffin will enter his third season with the UTEP track and field program after joining in August 2022.
Griffin, who made his way back into the coaching college ranks, serves as assistant coach for sprints, relays, and hurdles with the Orange and Blue. His previous collegiate stop was at Tennessee from 2010 thru 2013.
In 2024, Niesha Burgher repeated as the Conference USA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year following successful runs in the indoor and outdoor campaigns. Burgher was honored as the CUSA Female Indoor Track Performer of the Meet for a second consecutive season after tallying an overall meet-best 20.5 points at the indoor championships in Lynchburg, Va. Burgher clocked in a CUSA-best 22.97 in the women’s 200m dash final to take home gold. She also earned a gold medal, anchoring the 4x400m relay team with a 3:38.55. Burgher also secured a silver medal in the women’s 60-meter dash final with a 7.37.
At the 2024 CUSA OTF Championships at Kidd Field, Burgher was the High Point Scorer of the Meet with 25 while also being named the Female Track Performer of the Meet. Burgher racked up four gold medals. She took first place in the 100-meter dash with a meet record, personal-standard and school-record 11.06. She won gold in the 200-meter dash with a meet record, personal-best and school record of 22.44. Burgher ran the second leg of the 4x100 with a 44.68 to claim gold, while the multi-talented student-athlete anchored the 4x400 squad that clocked in a 3:35.68 to take home more gold.
Burgher also competed in the 200-meter dash, representing her native country Jamaica at the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, France. She placed 12th overall in Paris.
Burgher advanced to the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston, Mass., and was honored as a second team All-American following her efforts in the 200. Burgher also advanced to the ’24 NCAA Outdoor T&F Championships in Eugene at historic Hayward Field where she ran the 200m dash and 4x400-meter relay. Burgher was named second team All-American in the 200.
The women’s 4x400 outdoor squad comprised of Princess Uche, Loubna Benhadja, Zani Meaders and Burgher clocked in a school-record 3:33.02 at the NCAA West First Round.
Rejoice Sule took bronze in the 200-meter dash at the CUSA Indoor Championships, while the freshman won silver in the 100m and finished third in the 200 at the CUSA Outdoor Championships in El Paso. She was also named the CUSA Female Freshman of the Week and Female Track Athletes of the Week on April 23, 2024. Sule competed in the 100 and 200 at the NCAA West First Round.
Julio Pacheco Estrada won gold in the 400-meter dash at both the CUSA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. He was the CUSA Male Track Athlete of the Week on March 19, 2024 and competed at the NCAA West Regional Qualifier.
Joshua Hill took home a pair of silver medals in the 400 at the CUSA Indoor Championships and another at the Outdoor Championships at Kidd Field.
Freshman Xavier Butler was a five-time CUSA Athlete of the Week, while he grabbed gold in the 200 at the CUSA Outdoor Championships in El Paso. Butler competed in the 100 and 200 at the NCAA West First Round. Butler was named the CUSA Outdoor Freshman of the Meet after tallying 15 points. He was named the UTEP Athletics Male Athlete of the Year at the 2024 Golden Pick Awards.
The men's 4x100-meter relay team competed at the NCAA West Regional Qualifiers.
Under Griffin’s watch in 2023, Burgher turned in a solid first season as a Miner, Burgher tallied 22.5 points, the most by a female student-athlete at the outdoor championships in Denton, Texas. Burgher claimed a pair of gold medals at the outdoor championships in the 100m (personal-best 11.34) and the 4x400m relay team (3:38.87), and added two silver medals, one in the 4x100 (44.53) and the other in the 200m (23.26). Burgher clocked in a program-record 22.90 in the outdoor 200m prelims at the CUSA Championships. At the indoor championships in Birmingham, Ala., Burgher tallied 20 points. She took home a trio of medals – gold in the 200m (23.29), silver in the 60m (7.38) and another silver in the 4x400m relay (season-best 3:40.90). Burgher was the first UTEP female athlete to earn the indoor award since the honor started in 2014.
Griffin mentored the women’s 4x100m outdoor relay team composed of Zani Meaders, Burgher, Denae McFarlane and Oghenekaro Brume to a second place finish with a 44.66 at the CUSA Championships, while the 4x400m relay team (Meaders, Loubna Benhadja, Brume, Burgher) took gold at the CUSA OTF Championships with a 3:38.87.
At the CUSA OTF Championships, Joshua Hill placed second in the 400m with a 47.18, earning eight points and a silver medal, while on the women’s side, Meaders placed third (54.50) with six points and a bronze medal.
Griffin coached Kristina Knott at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in the 200m (23.01). Prior, he directed sprints and relays with Philippine National Team from April 2017 to 2021.
Griffin is a former SEC and USA Track & Field standout who joined the Tennessee staff as a volunteer assistant in 2011 to work with the Big Orange men's and women's sprint groups. A year later, he found himself in the position of full-time assistant coach, in charge of the UT men's sprints and hurdles corps and relay units.
In his first season in the full-time role, Griffin guided the Vols 4x100-meter relay team of Reggie Juin, Jamol James, JaraelNelvis and Arnez Hardnick to a seventh-place finish at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. After posting a season-best mark of 39.25 seconds to place third in the qualifying heats, the quartet crossed the line in 40.21 to earn team points in the championship race. The unit earned USTFCCCA First Team All-America honors for their performance. In addition, the four individuals were named the Vols’ Outdoor Most Valuable Track Athletes of the campaign. James went on to qualify for Trinidad & Tobago’s 2012 Olympic 4x100mR team in London.
Following his career as a Volunteer, Griffin was the sprints coach ALTIS in Shanghai, China from March 2014 to April 2017. He coached Wilfred H. Koffi, a 2014 African champion in the 100m and 200m in Cote de Ivoire.
Griffin is a 1996 graduate of LSU, where he was the victor in the 200 meters (20.24) that season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. His 1996 NCAA title came a season before former UTEP track star Obadele Thompson's championship in 1997.
An eight-time All-American and SEC champion as a collegian, Griffin was the winner of the SEC Indoor and Outdoor 200m titles in 1996 as well in 1995.
Following a stellar collegiate career, Griffin enjoyed a very successful professional career in track & field. He was the 1997 and 1999 USA Indoor 200m champion and posted finishes of fourth and sixth at the World Indoor Championships those seasons. At the 1999 USA meet, he ran a time of 20.32 that was then an American indoor record.
He also competed in the hurdles earlier in his track career, which took him from La Marque [Texas] High School (`92), to San Jacinto Junior College (`94) to LSU (`96).
Griffin made his first full-time coaching debut at served full-time coaching stints at Milligan College (June 2005-June 2007) in Johnson City, Tenn., and East Tennessee State (July 2007-2008) before filling the volunteer post with Tennessee.
He also is a four-year veteran of the U.S. Army (August, 8 2001-August, 6 2005), serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom with the Army's World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).
WCAP is designed to give elite soldier-athletes an opportunity to compete in the Olympics, world, and national championships in numerous sports. The program provides soldier-athletes as goodwill ambassadors for sporting events throughout the world and it helps the Army with recruiting and retention, according to Paulette Freese, WCAP manager of the Army Community and Family Support Center.
Athletes in the program, however, live by the motto “Soldiers First.” For embodying that spirit, Griffin received three Army Achievement Medals and an Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service during operations in the Battle of Najaf.
While an Athlete and Infantryman of the United States Army, Griffin was a 2003 world Military Games Finalist in the 200m.
