A native of California, Riffenburgh was the Senior Writer and Director of Research for National Football League Properties in the eighties and early nineties.
Riffenburgh earned his doctorate degree at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge.
After Cambridge dropped their team, Riffenburgh spent one season as head coach of the University of Hertfordshire Hurricanes.
[1] Riffenburgh was the first head coach of the Great Britain Bulldogs, the national university American football team, which won the first two European Championships in 1994 and 1996.
[1] Riffenburgh writes detective novels with his wife, Liz Cruwys, under the pseudonym Simon Beaufort.