Villa Maria grad Griffith takes the reins at Columbia

It took a while for Megan Griffith to decide she was going to make coaching basketball her life’s work.

After all, the King of Prussia native and Villa Maria Academy graduate had chosen Columbia University out of high school for its Finance program.

But after a standout career for the Lions and playing basketball overseas in Finland and the Netherlands for three seasons, Griffith took a position on the staff of the Princeton University women’s basketball program.

And still, it wasn’t until two years ago that she finally made up her mind to stick with basketball.

A little more than a month ago, Griffith returned to her alma mater to take the head coaching position at Columbia.

“I was at Princeton for six years,” Griffith said, “and I used to think that if an opportunity (to become a head coach) came up I’d have to think hard about it.

“But it wasn’t until two years ago that I finally decided that was what I wanted to do with my life.”

The opportunity to return to Columbia was a natural selling point.

Griffith is all over the Columbia basketball record book. She sits sixth in all-time points (1,061), is fifth in steals (151) and third in free throws made (256).

But it was her taste of coaching at Princeton, where the Tigers authored six straight 20-win seasons, with her as an assistant under head coach Courtney Banghart, that finally began to sway her thinking.

So that when Columbia came calling, Griffith said yes – eventually.

“To be honest, it was a great opportunity and it had been a goal of mine, so I decided to take a chance. But still I kept asking myself, ‘Do I want to take this step? Is this the right step for me? So after a lot of thinking, I knew it was a great chance, so I took it.”

Since, Griffith has seemingly been on a non-stop, roller-coaster ride. She had to get to know her players, cross the country a time or two on recruiting trips and organize an off-season workout program. All in less than a month.

But so far, the reaction has been positive.

“I was always taught that you can’t be what you were, you have to keep moving forward,” Griffith said. “That was the biggest thing for me, I needed to be flexible.”

So if that meant spending a weekend in Florida for a recruiting trip, that’s what had to be.

“Recruiting is a necessity to be successful,” she said. “It’s your lifeblood. Recruiting is everything.

“I would not say it’s a cakewalk. But without it you’re never going to get to where you need to be. The great coaches are really good recruiters. It’s necessary to maintain your success.”

Speaking of coaches, Griffith was quick to credit Villa Maria’s long-time girls basketball coach Kathy McCartney for giving her lessons that she’ll try to employ in her new post.

“She was so good in making a player think about being a part of the whole, instead of thinking as an individual.

“Everything was done with the team in mind, and she’s a great character builder. She was great at finding ways to keep a team hungry.”

As for her team at Columbia, Griffith said it’s young, but very promising.

“We have a good group,” she said. “They’re young, and we’ve only really been together for a week. But they’ve been receptive.

“I don’t know how many games they’re going to win. But I like what I’ve seen so far.”

And the new coach was quick to add that she believes she’s tough, but fair when it comes to relating to her team.

As for getting the best out of them, Griffith said she’ll find out a lot about the group when they embark on a team trip to Italy, an excursion that had been planned prior to her hiring.

That trip commences in two weeks and will be followed by full-scale workouts until the season gets underway.

Griffith said she’ll be tough, but enjoys her fair share of fun, too.

“I’m an intense person, but I like to have fun, too,” she said. “They’ll know when I’m serious.”

The timing of her hiring wasn’t as good as it could have been, forcing Griffith to hit the ground running. But she’s not about to back down from the challenge.

“It was a quick start, I would have liked to have had a little more time,” she said. “But I’m an experience-oriented person. I don’t spend much time thinking over things, I just do it. I have a great staff that has been terrific and we’re going to get right into it.

“We started workouts the day after I was hired. To me, it made the most sense to start right away.”

Griffith is where she once was told she might be.

“It’s one of those things,” she said. “People always told me I’d be a good coach. I thought I was going to be in finance.

“But about two years ago, I decided this is where I want to be. And now I know this is going to be my career.”