Griffin departed on Monday after he was notified by Gould that he wouldn't be in charge next year.

Gould labelled the 51-year-old as "old school" and "controlling" as a coach, but Griffin believes the same terms apply to his former boss.

"Gus [Gould] hasn't coached for 20 years, I know he's got an opinion and I'm not here to disrespect him," Griffin told NRL 360 on Wednesday night.

"He hasn't coached for 20 years, he hasn't had his head in the fire for 20 years. So, if there's anyone old school in the conversation … if I'm in the conversation about being old school then he needs to be in there as well.

"The old-school coach [term]? I've got my own methods. I wouldn't be sitting here today if I didn't know what I was doing. Having a team over three years go from playing off for a wooden spoon to sixth, sixth and now genuine premiership contenders.

"If that's old school, I'll take it any day."

Griffin refuted comments from Gould that there was staff unrest at the Panthers.

"The biggest breakdown, and there was obviously a breakdown …. Our relationship broke down on coaching philosophy," he said.

"I'm a strong personality, he's a strong personality. The suggestion I didn't involve staff is totally untrue. We had a difference in philosophy on how the team should be coached, not the structure or the use of staff or anything like that."

In six and a half seasons in the NRL Griffin has a winning percentage of 55%, with 95 wins from 172 games.

He denied his relationship with the Penrith squad has broken down.

"This year we've had a really strong year, we've performed really well," he said.

"We've had our losses and our downs. We've had a lot of young players debut in the NRL.... I know I've got the respect of the players and that's what you need."