St. Joseph’s women’s hoops coach Cindy Griffin headlines list of inductees for Big 5 Hall of Fame
Four other Big 5 legends across men's and women's programs will be honored during the upcoming men's and women's Big 5 Classic championship weekend on Dec. 5-6.
The Philadelphia Big 5 announced its 2026 Hall of Fame class on Thursday, with five inductees, including longtime St. Joseph’s women’s basketball coach Cindy Griffin.
Griffin will be recognized alongside Ashley Gale (La Salle), Laura Kurz (Villanova), Shey Peddy (Temple), and Zack Rosen (Penn) during the men’s edition of the Big 5 Classic at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday, Dec. 5, and again during the Women’s Big 5 Classic at The Palestra on Sunday, Dec. 6.
In her 26th season leading the Hawks, Griffin is the program’s all-time leader in wins with 442. She’s led the Hawks to four consecutive 20-win seasons, with 11 20-win seasons total. She’s also coached 20 players who have gone on to play professional basketball.
A St. Joe’s alumna, Griffin also had a four-year career on Hawk Hill as a player from 1987-92. She was a three-year team captain and led the Hawks to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and four Big 5 titles. Griffin was the eighth coach in NCAA Division I history to lead her alma mater to the NCAA Tournament as a player and a coach.
Etching her name in the record book as a coach, Griffin, who was inducted into the SJU Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, is still among the program’s career leaders in assists (510), steals (197), three-point field goal percentage (.364), and free throw percentage (.763).
Gale, who was at La Salle from 2007-11, still holds the single-season record for three-point field goals made with 92, and ranks fourth all-time in three-point field goals made with 186.
She also stands third in career free throw percentage (81.8%) and sixth in career steals (200).
From Villanova, Kurz, the 2009 Big 5 women’s Player of the Year, is being honored for her career with the Wildcats from 2007-09. She is one of three players in the program’s history to reach 1,000 points in just two seasons.
A two-time women’s Big 5 Player of the Year, Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year, Peddy, who spent three seasons at Temple (2010-12), recorded 206 career steals, which ranks ninth all-time in the program, as well as a single-season record for 77 three-pointers in the 2011-12 season.
During the 2011-12 season, Peddy also led the A-10 in scoring at 17.6 points per game and ranked second in the conference and was among the top 20 players in the nation with 3.1 steals per game.
She also reached the 1,000-point milestone in just two seasons.
The only man among the inductees, Rosen is being honored for his four-year career at Penn from 2008-12. During the 2012 season, Rosen was both the 2012 Ivy League and Big 5 Player of the Year and 2012 Honorable Mention All-American. That same year, he set the program record for assists in a season (173), minutes played (1259), and starts (33), which still stand.
He remains Penn’s all-time leader in assists (588), steals (154), and ranks second in games started (115) and minutes played (4,198).
