Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators have a new assistant coach on staff.

Florida head coach Dan Mullen announced the hire of Wesley McGriff on Saturday afternoon. McGriff is a 30-year coaching veteran who has NFL and vast Southeastern Conference experience. McGriff comes to Florida from Auburn, where for the past two seasons McGriff has served as secondary coach.

"Coach McGriff brings a high level of familiarity in the National Football League and Southeastern Conference, being a coordinator and position coach," Mullen said. "His track record of preparing players for the NFL and his success coaching at every level speaks for itself. His energy and tireless effort in recruiting will be an asset to our defensive staff."

Florida is the fifth SEC school to hire McGriff. He worked previously at Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Auburn. McGriff had two stints at Auburn, first in 2016, and after a successful season with the Tigers, he took over as defensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2017 and '18. He returned to Auburn in 2019 and recruited the Atlanta and South Florida areas.

He also coached Auburn standout defensive backs Noah Igbinoghene (first round) and Daniel Thomas (fifth) prior to both players being selected in last year's NFL Draft.

The 52-year-old McGriff grew up in Tifton, Ga., and later played at Savannah State. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater in 1990.

The past two seasons, Auburn's passing defense improved from No. 7 in the SEC in 2018, which was the year before he arrived in Auburn, to No. 3 in the in his final season in 2020.

McGriff's NFL experience came with the New Orleans Saints. He worked with the team's defensive backs from 2013-15 and helped develop a group of young players that included safeties Rafael Bush, Kenny Vaccaro and Pierre Warren, and cornerback Pierre Warren. Veterans Jairus Byrd and Kennan Lewis were also in the secondary at the time. McGriff was credited with helping develop undrafted rookie Warren into the starting lineup for six games during the 2014 season.

"At the end of the day, that's the highest level -- the National Football League," McGriff told the Auburn (Ala.) Plainsman when he was hired at Auburn. "Every young man wants to get to the highest level. There are a lot of coaches that want to coach at the highest level. That's the ultimate goal. When you have experience in that arena, that really helps you understand what it takes to get a young man to that level."
 

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PERSONAL

McGriff played cornerback, running back and wide receiver for the Tift County (Ga.) High School state championship team. He played at South Carolina State for one year before transferring to Savannah State, where he started at outside linebacker for three seasons and was named the conference's 1989 Male Academic Athlete of the Year.
 
He received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice, graduating cum laude, from Savannah State in 1990 and earned a master's in public administration from Georgia Southern in 1993. McGriff was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1990 and was a member of the Army Reserves until 2001. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
 
McGriff Coaching History
 

Years	School/Team	Title(s)
2019-20	Auburn	Defensive Backs Coach
2017-18	Ole Miss	Defensive Coordinator/Associate Head Coach
2016	Auburn	Co-Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach
2013-15	New Orleans Saints	Defensive Backs Coach
2012	Ole Miss	Co-Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach
2011	Vanderbilt	Defensive Backs Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
2007-10	Miami (Fla.)	Defensive Backs Coach
2003-06	Baylor	Recruiting Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach
2001-02	Kentucky	Running Backs Coach/Secondary Coach
2000	Eastern Kentucky	Secondary Coach
1995-99	Kentucky State	Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach
1990-94	Savannah State	Graduate Assistant/Secondary Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Interim Head Coach