Feature: I went back to my alma mater and saw how women’s sports have changed (The Guardian)
2/19/2026 4:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
There’s a basketball renaissance emerging at Columbia, and Megan Griffith’s women are leading it
I've been going to Columbia basketball games since I was an undergraduate in the 1960s. As a junior, I did some play-by-play for WKCR, the student-run radio station. There was a time long ago when I went to almost every Lions home game. I'm talking about the men. There wasn't a women's basketball team until 1984. For the past few decades, I've watched the men play once a year.
When I enrolled at Columbia in September 1963, the Lions' home games were played in University Hall – an antiquated gym with structural columns that impeded fans' views and looked as though it had been built during the Age of Pericles. Columbia had suffered through six straight losing seasons. Two more followed.
The Lions' fortunes turned during the 1965-66 campaign. Led by 7ft Dave Newmark, the team posted an 18-6 record. The future looked bright. Then Newmark put his hand through a window in a freak dormitory accident and missed the entire 1966-67 season. Without him, the team went 11-14. Still, hopes were high. Freshmen were ineligible for varsity play in those years, but Columbia's freshman team was led by Jim McMillian and Heyward Dotson, two of the best players ever to wear a Lions uniform. Three glorious seasons followed.
Newmark was back for the 1967-68 campaign. McMillian turned out to be the greatest player in Columbia basketball history, and Dotson was superb. After three early-season losses, the Lions caught fire in December, beating West Virginia, Louisville (the No 2 team in the country) and St John's in consecutive games to win the Holiday Festival tournament at Madison Square Garden. Those began a 16-game winning streak that culminated in an Ivy League championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. At one point, the Lions were ranked No 6 in the nation. It's unlikely that an Ivy League basketball team will ever be ranked that high again.
McMillian's departure from Columbia was followed by a series of losing campaigns. The Lions have completed only five winning seasons in the past 42 years. 1968 remains the last time the Columbia men's basketball team was in the NCAA Tournament. In the five seasons preceding this one, the Lions had an Ivy League record of nine wins and 61 losses.
Meanwhile, the Columbia women's basketball team have been flourishing. The Columbia women had 28 losing seasons in the 29 years ending with the 2015-16 campaign. Enter Megan Griffith, who was named head coach in March 2016.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON THE GUARDIAN
FOLLOW THE LIONS
For the latest on Columbia women's basketball, follow @CULionsWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, or on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
