Join the Columbia Alumni Association of Hong Kong for an inspiring fireside chat with Megan Griffith ’07CC, the all-time winning coach in Columbia Women’s Basketball history and Lavine Family Head Coach of Women’s Basketball. A proud Columbia College alumna and former Lion herself, Coach Griffith has built Columbia Women’s Basketball into a national force through her vision, discipline, and commitment to developing exceptional student-athletes. 

This occasion holds a special connection for our Hong Kong community: Coach Griffith’s mother was from Hong Kong. We are delighted to welcome her to connect with fellow Lions and share her personal journey with our alumni community.

Over the past five seasons, Coach Griffith has led the Lions to an extraordinary 125–35 overall record, multiple Ivy League titles, Columbia’s first NCAA Tournament victory, and the 2026 WBIT Championship—an achievement no Ivy League men’s or women’s basketball team had reached in a major national postseason tournament for more than 50 years. 

In this engaging conversation, Coach Griffith will share candid insights on leadership, coaching, and building high-performing teams. She will also reflect on working with a new generation of young people—how to motivate, develop, and empower them—and offer practical advice for students and professionals interested in exploring a career in athletics.

Come connect with fellow alumni and discover what it takes to lead with purpose, build a winning culture, and create meaningful impact both on and beyond the court.

Event Detail: 

Speaker Bio: 

MEGAN GRIFFITH

The all-time winningest coach in program history, Megan Griffith '07CC, recently completed her 10th year as the Lavine Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball in 2025-26. She was named to her position in March of 2016.
Over the last five years, Griffith’s teams have averaged 25 wins per season and posted a combined 125-35 (.782) overall record, including a 61-9 (.871) mark in the Ivy League. Griffith coached Columbia to its first national postseason tournament qualification in program history in 2021-22, advancing to the Great Eight of the WNIT. The next year, the Lions won their first Ivy League Regular Season Championship and made a run to the WNIT Championship Game against Kansas at historic Allen Fieldhouse. The following season, the Lions repeated as Ivy champs and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, receiving just the second at-large bid in Ivy League women’s basketball history. Columbia’s upward trajectory continued into 2024-25, earning its first outright Ivy League title and another at-large bid to the Big Dance. This time, they came back to New York with a win. The Lions erased a 13-point halftime deficit and took down Washington, 63-60, on March 20, 2025, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, securing their first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.
This past season, Griffith’s Lions accomplished something no Ivy League men’s or women’s basketball team had done in more than 50 years. Despite missing out on the NCAA Tournament, Columbia earned a No. 4 seed in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), which replaced the WNIT as one of the NCAA’s major postseason tournaments in 2024. The Lions steamrolled St. John’s at home before going on the road and defeating top-seeded North Dakota State in Fargo. Later that week, they flew out to Berkeley, California and outlasted the Cal Golden Bears, 74-68, earning a trip to the WBIT Final Four in Wichita, Kansas. Once there, Columbia finished the job, handily defeating third-seeded Wisconsin in the semifinal and leading by as many as 27 in the championship game over BYU, going on to defeat the Cougars, 81-64. Over the five games of the WBIT, Columbia trailed for all of 3 minutes and 9 seconds, and became the first Ivy League men’s or women’s basketball team to win a major national postseason tournament since the Princeton men’s team won the NIT in 1975.