By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA - Judging by the early listings on which teams did well on signing day Wednesday, the first dividends have arrived on investments a year ago when former Notre Dame associate head coach Coquese Washington was hired at Penn State and former Rutgers associate head coach Jolette Law was hired at Illinois.
Both schools struggled last season, but the heartbreak of narrow losses, especially at Penn State, which finished with a 12-game losing streak, has now been tempered by some joy.
Illinois was listed fifth at Blue Star's site, and Penn State seventh, while the Illini were tabbed third in the early ranking at HoopGurlz at the espn.com site.
This means the proverbial light is ahead at the end of the tunnel at places where a new generation of head coaches replaced two legends and former Immaculata teammates in Penn State's Rene Portland and Illinois' Theresa Grentz.
Adding to the new generation approach, that contract extension given to Joanne Boyle at California resulted in the Golden Bears getting the No. 1 nod at Blue Star.
Don't cry for Rutgers, Tennessee, and Connecticut not being near the top. They are still getting their nuggets. But with huge harvests a year ago, there were not a lot of roster spots to offer the next time around, giving other programs, such as Texas A&M, to cash in on their recent successes.
Another Contract Extension for St. Joseph's Cindy Griffin
The official announcement is being made Thursday but Guru Central learned that St. Joseph's has given former Hawk guard Cindy Griffin a three-year extension through the 2011-12 season.
Financial terms were not disclosed and the Guru will not guess at dollar values except to believe Griffin, who was hired at her alma mater in 2001, is among the upper third in Atlantic 10 salaries.
The Hawks open at No. 5 Rutgers Friday night at 5 p.m. in a game that is lopsided in blue chip talent in favor of the Scarlet Knights. But St. Joseph's scrappy style has given fits to the former Atlantic 10 rival over the years, especially last season in a game that Griffin's team extended into the final minutes.
The fact that St. Joseph's is more veteran could cause some concern to Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer considering she is still trying to harness her freshmen into the system.
Griffin is entering his eighth year as Saint Joseph's head coach in 2008-09 and owns a 176-125 career record, and a 128-92 mark at Hawk Hill. During her first seven seasons at SJU, Griffin has led the Hawks to five postseason berths, four in-season tournament titles and four victories over nationally ranked teams.
Later this month, Griffin will go down memory lane when the Hawks travel to Vanderbilt where she once served as an assistant to her former Hawks coach Jim Foster, now at Ohio State.
New Big East Commissioner
John Marinatto will succeed Mike Tranghese as commissioner of the powerful Big East, being elevated from his current role as senior associate commissioner.
The new commissioner, who will take over in June after Tranghese's departure, has always been on the scene at major conference women's competition and member participation in postseason tournaments in case anyone was wonder whether some cracks might appear in the women's empire that developed in the Big East in recent seasons.
Making the Rounds
The Guru was at Temple practice Wednesday to advance the Owls' Friday night home opener under new coach Tonya Cardoza for Friday print editions. Former coach Dawn Staley will be checking in Thursday for a story to run print-side Sunday when South Carolina opens at Penn State.
Traffic permitting, the Guru will first head to Villanova Friday for a 4 p.m. season and Big Five opener between the Wildcats and La Salle.
The Guru has also completed his annual planning schedule, which will be sent to Jonathan to post here. It is a combination of our local D-1 majors plus other games the Guru has interest but needs to see where conflicts appear.
More to come
-- Mel
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