Without head coach Megan Griffith on the sidelines for its first three games of the season, the Columbia women’s basketball team didn’t just survive — it thrived.
The Lions went 3-0 against Davidson, Rhode Island and Belmont, a trio of squads that ranked in the top 110 of NET last year, a metric the NCAA uses to sort teams. Columbia won those games by an average margin of 13.3 points with associate coach Tyler Cordell making the in-game decisions and adjustments.
“Yeah, she should just take my job,” Griffith said with a laugh during a Zoom call with reporters. “What I loved about it was how she just jumped right into it. I think Ty really understood the game planning aspect from my standpoint and how I think about it, and she put her spin on it. Which
for her, that is so easy because she built the program with me.”
Griffith is now back on the sidelines for Columbia following a three-game suspension, returning to the lead chair on the bench for perhaps the toughest stretch of the Lions’ schedule. On Thursday, Nov. 12, they’ll host No. 2 Michigan at Levien Gymnasium in New York City, travel to No. 18 Maryland on Sunday, Nov. 15, then host No. 5 Duke on Saturday, Nov. 21.
Columbia announced it was suspending Griffith — an alum of the Ivy League institution who is in her 10th season leading the Lions — in October following a review of the program by an outside firm after the university received a complaint about her behavior during practices from past seasons.
In a statement, Columbia said the review did not require notice to the NCAA of any rules violations and did not involve any allegations of violations of the university’s anti-discrimination policies, Title IX or related policies. According to the statement, “Griffith expressed regret for the times in which her interactions with the team did not align with the university’s expectations.”
USA TODAY Sports was provided with a statement from current Columbia players, too. They said they "fully stand with and support" Griffith and that the complaint was "not indicative of our experience as part of this program."
During a call with reporters on Tuesday, Nov. 10, Griffith didn’t discuss the reasoning behind her suspension, but talked about the positives that she took away from it.
“What a unique experience this has been. The biggest benefit was, I think, bringing my staff into how I game plan and think about the game, bringing our players more deeply into it, and then I got to watch a lot and coach the details of the game in a very different way,” Griffith said. “I got to observe from a very different vantage point of a game. And obviously, that's not what I wanted. You want to be with your team, right?
“But it was a great opportunity to learn in a different way, and I think our team and my staff did a phenomenal job of stepping up and battling together.”
Griffith, 41, played at Columbia from 2003-2007 and was a two-time All-Ivy League selection. After playing professionally in Europe, she joined the coaching ranks by becoming an assistant for Courtney Banghart at Princeton during a stretch where the Tigers made three NCAA Tournaments.
In 2016, Griffith took the reins at her alma mater and has turned Columbia into a consistent mid-major power. In the last five seasons, the Lions were 125-35 with three regular season Ivy League titles, two at-large NCAA Tournament appearances, a runner-up finish in the WNIT in 2023 and a WBIT championship last season. Columbia also won an NCAA Tournament game in 2025, defeating Washington in the First Four.
The March Madness bids and victory — and the WBIT title — were the first in Columbia's history. The program that Griffith has turned the Lions into is one that Power 4 teams and national title contenders are willing to play in the non-conference slate now, because they know Columbia will provide a competitive game and a sufficient measuring stick.
And for Columbia, pulling off an upset in one of these games can be the bullet point on the resume it needs to secure a berth in March Madness.
“It’s a gauntlet. I love a challenge,” Griffith said. “We have to prove a resume for March. Not that March hinges on (these games), but it gives you another chance, right? So, very intentionally, we always look for a couple of these Quad 1 games.
“Teams like Michigan, teams like Duke, they're not afraid to play anywhere. Those are teams trying to prepare themselves for hostile environments and playing against strong teams. I think that's just a good sign of a program that's really trying to test themselves for March and make a deep run.”
Led by reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Riley Weiss, Columbia also brought back key contributors in Mia Broom, Fliss Henderson and 6-foot-3 German forward Hilke Feldrappe. Through the transfer portal, former Big Ten Rookie of the Year Mary Ashley Stevenson has also joined Columbia this season after spending one season apiece at Purdue and Stanford.
“They can turn it on when they want. I think we need to realize they can turn it on more. I think we’re sometimes assessing the game and I’m like, ‘Impose yourself. Be tone-setters,’” Griffith said. “I just want to see what we're made of a little bit more, right? Let's really test ourselves. We're throwing ourselves fully into the fire here.”
To have a chance against a pair of teams in Michigan and Duke that made the Elite Eight last season and a consistent winner in Brenda Frese’s Maryland, Columbia will need to push itself to play at its very best.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Columbia coach Megan Griffith returns from suspension for big game vs. Michigan
