Editor’s note: To wrap up 2023, the Riverhounds once again take a look back at the five biggest moments of the past year with a series of features running this week and ending with the No. 1 moment on Saturday. This year, for the first time, the moments were voted upon by a panel composed of members of the Riverhounds staff, front office and members of the Pittsburgh media who covered the team in 2023.
The Riverhounds began 2023 with a strong group of returning players from the season prior, including eventual All-League selections Albert Dikwa, Arturo Ordóñez and Kenardo Forbes, and veteran influences like Robbie Mertz and Dani Rovira. But one of the big questions in the offseason was how the team would replace Danny Griffin, the team’s midfield workhorse and minutes leader of the previous two seasons.
Griffin was a free agent after the 2022 season, and he joined MLS side Nashville SC in preseason to start 2023. He appeared in preseason matches with the MLS team, but he was eventually signed to Huntsville City FC in MLS Next Pro, and he began the season with the third-division side.
With Nashville failing to lock Griffin up with their first team, an opportunity presented itself for the Hounds. And on May 3, a deal was done, and the player to replace Griffin was… Danny Griffin.
Griffin, whose departure ended a club-record 85 consecutive league matches played, was back in Pittsburgh to begin a new streak after a transfer deal was agreed to bring the holding midfielder back to the USL Championship.
“I’m ecstatic to be back in Pittsburgh. I’ve been following the team while I was gone, and I’m happy to say that I’m coming back home,” he said upon rejoining his first professional club.
And while Griffin’s value is sometimes hard to quantify in numbers by virtue of his position, it wasn’t hard to see the impact his arrival made on the team’s results in May and beyond.
His first game back came on the road in a 2-2 draw at Monterey Bay. Then, Griffin and the Hounds had to make a quick turnaround for their next match in the U.S. Open Cup, a road matchup May 9 with MLS’ New England Revolution. It was a homecoming of a different sort for the Connecticut-raised Griffin, and in front of family and friends in Foxborough, Mass., Griffin made the game’s biggest play.
Griffin’s goal sent the Hounds to their first-ever road win over an MLS team, 1-0, and his presence helped ignite an outstanding run of form for the team. The win over New England was the first of six consecutive victories for the Hounds — a run that included another Open Cup win over the Columbus Crew — and the Hounds went 8-0-4 in their first 12 USL Championship matches with Griffin back in the lineup.
At season’s end, Griffin had started every game for the Hounds from the time he returned — 30 in all competitions — as the fourth-year pro ascended to ninth in club history with 116 games played.
With all the success experienced by the Hounds in 2023 — reaching the Open Cup quarterfinals and winning the USL Championship Players’ Shield, most notably — the return of Danny Griffin could easily be pointed to as an early turning point to send the team on that path.