University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

Coleman Griffith is known as the grandfather of sport psychology. He worked with various professional teams in the 1920s and taught some of the original courses in sport psychology at the University of Illinois from the 1920s to 1950s. I first became aware of him and his writings in graduate school at Penn State in the 1970s. In my opinion, he is a classic role model for the scientist-practitioner model that we espouse in sport and exercise psychology. I have tried to model my professional goals after his efforts and have succeeded in both academic and practitioner roles (coaching, sport psychology consultant). I would like to see every graduate student in sport and exercise psychology at Penn State read one of his original texts (Psychology of Coaching, Psychology and Athletics) before they leave graduate school. I think he still has a lot to give to the field.