Ryan Spring joined the Groton faculty in 2013. His experience in independent boarding schools began as a student at Phillips Academy, Andover. After Andover, he completed his undergraduate studies at Bates College, earning a BA in American Cultural Studies and Russian History. Ryan later earned an MA in history at the George Washington University.
 
Since arriving on the Circle, Ryan has taught U.S. History, World and the West, and a series of electives on 20th-century Russia. He has also led a Third Form girls’ dormitory and coached girls’ varsity soccer and thirds basketball. The girls’ soccer team won the NEPSAC Class B championship in 2014 and reached the semifinals in 2013 and 2015. In 2014. Ryan was awarded the Jonathan Choate Award for Excellence in Teaching and Coaching.
 
Before working at Groton, Ryan spent fifteen years teaching, coaching, and advising at Blair Academy, in Blairstown, NJ. He lives on campus with his wife, Stacey, a doctoral student in political science at Boston University and also a member of Groton’s History Department, and their two children, Owen and Eleanor (Elly).

Harold Francis, head basketball coach, assistant athletic director, and teacher, joined Groton in 2013, after teaching and serving as an assistant coach at Buckingham Brown and Nichols in Cambridge, MA for six years, where he became familiar with the level of play within the ISL. Before that, Coach Francis spent three years as head coach at Boston Collegiate Charter School in Dorchester, MA, where he led the school to three consecutive playoff appearances and was named Massachusetts Charter School Athletic Organization Basketball Coach of the Year.

Originally from Queens, New York, Coach Francis played football and basketball at the Taft School, then went on to play football at Hobart College. He has worked at numerous basketball camps throughout the country, including the Coach K Duke Basketball Camp and Hoop Mountain. He earned a master's in sports leadership from Northeastern University. Besides being assistant athletic director and coaching basketball, he also coaches football, teaches a section of Sacred Texts, and lives on campus with his wife, Sarah, and dog, Brooklyn.

John Lyons arrived at Groton in 1995 and was chair of the History Department from 2006 to 2012. Following his undergraduate years at Middlebury College, John pursued an MA at Georgetown University. He completed two years as a history instructor at Northfield Mt. Hermon before spending the next ten years at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, DE, chairing the history department during his last five years there.

After assuming many roles at St. Andrew’s, including head varsity football coach, varsity baseball assistant, dorm head, and residential dean, John and his family headed to Groton. In 1996, he was awarded Groton's John Hay Whitney Chair in History and Public Affairs, and in June 2000, Lyons received the Henry and Wendy Breck Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2012 received the Jonathan Choate '60 Faculty Award for excellence in teaching and coaching. His professional development activities include a year as a visiting scholar in history at Middlebury College, three William Robertson Coe Fellowships in American History at Stanford University, and summer colloquiums with the Gilder-Lehrman Institute for American History, the Liberty Fund, the Center for the American Idea, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

John holds the Charles C. Alexander Endowed Varsity Football Coach position and coaches boys JV ice hockey. At various times he has directed Groton's Teaching Intern program, moderated Groton's Model UN group, and served as a member of the Curriculum and Studies committees as well as a dorm head. His wife of 29 years, Hannah, is a clinical nurse specialist in oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital; they have two daughters, Rachel, a 2008 St. Mark's graduate, and Molly ’12. Rounding out the Lyons clan is a black Lab, George.

Eric Spierer teaches world history and United States history. He graduated with distinction from the Columbia University - London School of Economics dual MA/MSc program in international and world history, and he was the joint recipient of the Richard Hofstadter Prize for Best Dissertation. Eric earned his bachelor's degree at Wesleyan University, where he was a history major and a varsity rower. Prior to graduate school, Eric was a paralegal at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City and taught history at The Derryfield School, his alma mater, in Manchester, New Hampshire. At Groton, Eric coaches basketball and rowing, is the director of Jewish Student Life, and runs a dorm with his wife, Jessica.

Azmar Williams teaches Foundations of Global History and Modern Global History and runs an Upper School boys dorm. A PhD candidate in the History Department at Harvard University—where he earned his MA in U.S. History—Mr. Williams is currently preparing to defend his dissertation. His teaching and research interests have been in post-emancipation U.S. history, focusing on African American history and intellectual history. Mr. Williams holds a BA in history and African American studies from Yale University. A North Carolina native, he attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics—the nation’s first public boarding high school focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.