Steve Griggs became Yale’s fourth head men’s tennis coach in July of 1975, succeeding John Skillman who held the post for 30 years before retiring at the end of the 1975 season.

Griggs is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT where he captained the Trinity tennis team, and played on the soccer and squash squads. Following graduation, he joined the staff of the Pingry School in Elizabeth, N.J. where in addition to his duties as a modern language teacher, he coached the tennis team for two years. In 1970, he moved to the Choate School in Wallingford, CT, and from there he went to the Thacher School in Ojai, CA.

Griggs’ 1978 Yale squad made the 16-team field of the first NCAA team tournament. His top doubles duo that year, Cary Leeds/Matt Doyle, won the Intercollegiate National Indoor Doubles championship. His 1981 & 1983 teams set the school record for number of wins at 18, and his 1988 team captured the Ivy League championship for the first time since 1967.

Several of Griggs’ players went on to successful professional tennis careers including Martin Wostenholme (Canadian Davis Cup player and top ATP 100), Glenn Layendecker (ATP top 50), Matt Doyle (Irish Davis Cup captain and top ATP 50), and Cary Leeds (ATP touring pro, reached Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Semi-Finals).

Steve’s life can be described in multiples. He speaks three Romance languages, French, Spanish and Italian. He earned varsity letters in five sports; soccer, basketball and baseball (high school)- soccer squash and tennis (college). He has two daughters (Amie and Jessica) and two sons (Damon –Yale ’93 and Colin). He and his wife Trish have been happily married for 42 years as of this writing (2022) and have retired to Guilford to enjoy being near Yale. Before beginning his coaching career at Yale Steve was the Head coach of five different varsity sports during his eight years of high school teaching. He coached tennis, soccer, squash, baseball and lacrosse. This multiplicity led ultimately to Steve becoming perhaps the last Head coach of two unrelated sports at the Division I level in the nation.

In 1978 Steve became a two sport coach at Yale when he was named the men’s soccer coach. During his 18-year soccer tenure, Steve became the winningest coach in Yale history with a record of 143-110-23. Steve won Ivy League titles in 1986, 1989, and 1991; and finished 2nd in the League in 1979 & 1987. His team had wins over UCLA, University of Indiana and many others. His 1991 team advanced to the NCAA Division I quarter finals before losing to eventual champions University of Virginia.

1n 1995 Steve left Yale to become the Director of Athletics at Newark Academy where he stayed until he retired in 2011.