Roman Griffin Jr. becomes first graduate of CCSJ Sprint Football program

Whiting, IN – Last year, the Crimson Wave Sprint Football team made history by winning the MSFL Championship in November of 2023. Now in May of 2024, the football team stamps its mark in the history books again as Roman Griffin Jr. becomes the first person to graduate from the sprint football program.

The 26-year-old student assistant running backs coach at Calumet College of St. Joseph just received his diploma on May 11, 2024 with a bachelor's of science in general studies, focusing on kinesiology and health science.

Technically, Griffin completed his bachelor's degree this past winter and has already begun his master's program at CCSJ. He is currently working towards a MA in Business Management, while being on the CCSJ Spring Football coaching staff and running his own mentorship business. Griffin is truly honored to be the first to graduate from a program only entering its third year and hopes his dedication can inspire others.

"I'm a big advocate of mentoring so having my business that I run, along with coaching and going to school, does allow me to see that I can be an example for my peers and I'm proud of that," Griffin said.

Griffin transferred to CCSJ in January 2023 from Aurora University, where he played two years of collegiate football as a running back/fullback. As a person who grew up in the Northwest Indiana area and graduated from Andrean High School, Griffin made the decision to transfer and forgo his college playing career to focus on furthering his education right in his own community.

Griffin first heard of an available coaching opportunity at CCSJ after meeting with his high school coach and former CCSJ offensive coordinator John Maurek. Maurek told Griffin that he needed a running back coach at CCSJ and thought it would be a great opportunity for him. These two were able to win a state title at Andrean High School in 2013 and were later inducted into the hall of fame with the rest of the team for an undefeated state title run.

Since transferring and arriving on campus at CCSJ, Griffin quickly got involved in many endeavors that have allowed him to make an impact both on and off the field. Within his first semester he began assisting with football spring and summer camps while taking classes full-time.

He later created his own mentorship business called Kingdom Performance and Wellness that can be found on campus. Inspired by his own experiences and driven by his desire to give back, Griffin and his business teamed up with a local non-profit called Holistic Evolution. They primarily focus on young men of color between the ages of 16-24 in the Northwest Indiana area that could benefit from their mentoring on substance use prevention and community violence prevention. 

Griffin will be with CCSJ for the foreseeable future while he completes his master's degree. His goals within that time frame are to help the CCSJ Sprint Football team win back-to-back MSFL championships and continue to help those in his community as best he can.

"I'm looking to maintain my position of coaching the running backs while taking classes and helping us win another championship," Griffin said. "As far as my master's degree, I'm looking to further develop my skills and bring what I'm learning to Holistic Evolution and my own business." 

Griffin looked back on his journey since playing football at Aurora University to now coaching and mentoring at CCSJ and said it was not easy by any stretch. In the process of this transition, Griffin said he gave up financial stability. Due to coaching, mentoring and being a full-time, Griffin can no longer be a court security officer and has limited time to continue to be a martial arts trainer.

While he knew embodying this role would be difficult, he said it was all a walk of faith and he knew what he was doing was exactly what he was supposed to do.

"I knew the road I would be taking wouldn't be easy, but I wanted the road I did take to be enjoyable," Griffin said. "My decision to come here was a faith-based decision and looking at it today, every day I'm doing something different but I love it. I love having fun, playing sports, being able to share my passion for sports with the athletes I'm working with."