By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA _ Big Five and Atlantic Ten competitors St. Joseph's and Temple each announced a new arrival Monday tied to their respective women's basketball programs.
Both declarations involved graduates of the collegiate classes of 1991, but only the Hawks' news carried the name of the newcomer.
St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin, a Hawk graduate in 1991, and her husband Curtis officially added to their personal family Monday morning with the delivery of Curtis John Griffin Jr., weighing in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. Men's coach Phil Martelli was readying a scholarship offer, deciding the presentation now would save a 16-year recruiting effort.
Curtis Jr. snaps a two-female birth streak as he becomes a first brother to two-year-old Hannah and four-year-old Kaylie, who has had a past fascination with the Guru's hanging credential tag during Hawks women's games.
Temple also hatched a newcomer via the contractual agreement that officially stamped coach No, 23 in the long history of its women's program. The Owls are withholding the name of the 1991 graduate of Virginia until Tuesday's press conference, though her identity has been revealed in the Guru's blog, various Connecticut media sites, and other venues across the nation.
Unlike Curtis Jr's numbers at St. Joseph's, Temple will not describe the dimensions attached to its newcomer, but one can be found in the Guru's latest extended post above that goes beyond the printed story for Tuesday's sports section at Philly.com.
However, the signs of a new era are already apparent as images of former coach Dawn Staley, who left for South Carolina, begin to fade from the athletic department's web site.
Incidentally, that same web site will stream Tuesday's press conference at 2 p.m. EDT that will undoubtedly feature the back of the Guru's head during the speeches and interviews from the podium.
While you are here, in other news, the Guru made it to the Department of Recreation's NCAA Women's Summer League in Northeast Philadelphia for the first time this season Monday night to see rookie Inquirer sports department colleague Kate Fagan, a former Colorado star, go up against a team dominated by Holy Family players, the national Division II power.
It didn't take long for Holy Family to get the Guru to say "holy smokes" as the Tigers disguised as the Gold team easily handled Fagan's Red team.
Ironically, Villanova has always been her worst nightmare for beating the Buffs twice her senior season, including a collegiate career-ending loss in Knoxville, Tenn., in the NCAA tournament that enabled the Wildcats to advance to the Elite Eight in 2003.
A bigger nightmare for Fagan and her Red teammates was the absence of those attached to Villanova, including senior Laura Kurz who told the Guru on Sunday she won't be on hand for the games at Northeast High for another two weeks.
The Guru was impressed, however, at Fagan's range showing she can cover ground on the court as easily as she has covered stories on the Phillies, Eagles and whatever else the department's assigning editors have tossed in her direction since her arrival in May.
-- Mel
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