Bucknell University Men's Basketball

One of the catalysts of some of Bucknell’s all-time greatest men’s basketball teams returned home in March 2023. John Griffin III, a 2008 Bucknell graduate, became the 22nd head coach of the Bison men’s basketball program and presided over a season of growth in 2023-24. Griffin guided the Bison to a T-2nd finish in the Patriot League last season. After finishing 10-8 in league play, the Bison won a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game on the road at American and then took three-time defending champion Colgate to the final buzzer in a three-point loss in the semifinals. Griffin, who spent the previous four seasons as associate head coach at Saint Joseph’s University, was a key part of some of Bucknell’s very best teams in his two previous stints in Lewisburg, comprising four years as a student-athlete and four more as an assistant coach. In those eight seasons, Bucknell compiled a 174-87 (.667) overall record and a 102-26 (.797) mark in Patriot League games. Griffin helped lead Bucknell to four NCAA Tournament appearances, two as a player (2005, 2006) and two as an assistant coach (2017, 2018). Griffin comes from a deep-rooted basketball family. He is now a second-generation head coach following in the footsteps of his father, John Griffin II, who was head coach at Siena from 1982-86 and at Saint Joseph’s from 1990-95. Griffin’s younger brother, Matt, played basketball at Rider and Boston University and is now an assistant coach on his staff at Bucknell. “John Griffin i

Branden McDonald joined the Bucknell men's basketball staff prior to the 2022-23 season and remained in Lewisburg as part of John Griffin's first coaching st...

A familiar name to Bison basketball fans, Jesse Flannery joined John Griffin's coaching staff in 2023-24. The son of Bucknell Athletics Hall-of-Fame coach Pat Flannery enjoyed a stellar playing career at Johns Hopkins and is now making his own mark in the collegiate coaching ranks. In his first year back in his hometown, Griffin helped lead the Bison to a T-2nd finish in the Patriot League last season. After finishing 10-8 in league play, the Bison won a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game on the road at American and then took three-time defending champion Colgate to the final buzzer in a three-point loss in the semifinals. After graduating from Johns Hopkins in 2018, Flannery spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth under Mike Rhodes and was part of a Rams squad that won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title and received a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Flannery spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Amherst before joining the staff at Army West Point in the Patriot League prior to last season. He was part of winning teams at both spots, and last season he helped the Black Knights to the No. 4 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, where they won a quarterfinal home game in overtime against Boston University. After an outstanding career locally at Lewisburg Area High School, Flannery went on to play in over 100 games and two NCAA Division III Tournaments at Johns Hopkins. He was part of an NCAA Sweet Sixteen team in 2015, and he captai

Justin McKenna arrived in Lewisburg in the summer of 2023 after spending nearly two years with the perennial successful Georgia Southern Eagles athletic programs. He will work with the Bison men's and women's basketball programs. As an assistant strength & conditioning coach at Georgia Southern, McKenna was responsible for all aspects of strength and conditioning for women's basketball and women's tennis. Additionally, he assisted in the programming, design, and implementation of training for men's basketball. He utilized the ground-breaking Catapult to monitor team and individual load and intensity for all practice and competition. He oversaw and designed a continuing education curriculum for interns and graduate assistants. The curriculum includes coaching technique drills, program defense, networking, and interview prep. At his alma mater, UT Arlington, McKenna served as a graduate assistant in strength & conditioning. He was responsible for all aspects of strength and conditioning for women's golf, men's tennis, and track and field throwers. He assisted in the programming, design, and implementation of training for baseball, softball, and all other track groups. McKenna utilized Fustionetics with women's golf as a movement evaluation tool to prescribe individualized mobility routines. In 2019-20, McKenna spent a year at the University of Kentucky as the strength and conditioning assistant. He assisted in all aspects of strength and conditioning for women's basketball and

Matt Griffin joined the Bucknell men's basketball staff in 2023-24, arriving after spending the previous season as an assistant coach under Pat Chambers at F...

Mike Walley joined John Griffin's staff in 2023-24 as the director of basketball operations. Walley was a two-sport standout in both basketball and baseball at The College of New Jersey, and he came to Bucknell after spending the previous two seasons as a graduate assistant at Saint Joseph’s while working toward an MBA degree. At Saint Joe’s, Walley assisted with practice and player development, he was involved with gameday preparations and scouting reports, and he managed logistics in the areas of travel itinerary, food operations, and daily practice planning. During the 2020-21 academic year, Walley was an assistant basketball and baseball coach at Notre Dame High School in New Jersey and also worked as a volunteer manager with the Princeton men’s basketball team. A 2020 graduate of TCNJ with a degree in economics, Walley was a key contributor on the Lions’ New Jersey Athletic Conference championship team during his senior year. The squad finished 20-9 and won a first-round NCAA Tournament game. Walley also played baseball at TCNJ and was a starting pitcher on NJAC championship teams in 2017 and 2019.

Bucknell head men’s basketball coach John Griffin III has announced the appointment of Pat Behan, Bucknell Class of 2010, as Special Adviser to the Head Coach in November 2024. A former member of the Bison men’s basketball team, Behan is currently in a battle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. While the disease cut short a promising basketball coaching career, he still regularly watches Bucknell games and sends text messages with advice to Griffin, who was his teammate and roommate at Bucknell. “It is with great honor that I welcome Pat Behan back to Bucknell Basketball as the Special Adviser to the Head Coach,” said Griffin. “Pat is not only a proud Bucknell alum, but he is also one of the brightest basketball minds, with a track record of remarkable success, most recently as the head coach at St. John’s High School in the highly competitive WCAC. Despite facing the extraordinary challenges of ALS, a disease that has taken nearly everything physically from Pat, his mind remains sharp, and his resilience is nothing short of inspiring.” “I'm thankful for this opportunity to officially reunite with the Bucknell basketball program, and I'm honored to be given this opportunity from coach John Griffin, a former teammate, who is a true advocate and supporter," said Behan. "I've always enjoyed our conversations on the basketball front, and I'm excited to take this next step and be a part of the passion with which he leads this program, and

Skylar Spitz-Roden joined the Bucknell Sports Medicine staff as an athletic trainer in 2022. She currently serves as the primary athletic trainer for the men...