Auburn men's coach Mike Griffin stepping down

College golf got a little less fun to cover yesterday when Auburn announced that Mike Griffin would be stepping down from his post as men's head coach after 25 years.

In the time I've been covering the college beat, there's been no individual more dedicated to the college game, or more willing to do anything he could to help promote the sport. It's a shame that his final season didn't play out better; the Tigers failed to finish with a .500 record in 2008-09 and thus weren't eligible for an at-large berth into NCAA Regionals. Griffin will get to coach Glenn Northcutt and Cole Moreland individually at the regional being played at University of Texas GC in Austin next week.

During Griffin's tenure at Auburn, he was SEC coach of the year four times and led the Tigers to the conference title in 2002. On eight other occasions, Auburn was runner-up at SECs. His teams made 16 appearances at nationals and 19 appearances at regionals, and he was inducted into the GCAA Hall of Fame in 2000.

Thankfully, the man who made the bucket hat look stylish isn't totally leaving us. Griffin says he will stay on as director of golf at Auburn.

Photo courtesy of Auburn's Sports Information Department