Doug Feinberg ’95

When Doug Feinberg ’95 started covering women’s basketball for the Associated Press in 2006, he wasn’t immediately accepted into the fold. Players and coaches thought he might be there to get his foot in the door before moving on to the NBA or another “more important” beat. But Feinberg, who has coached girls’ basketball at The Dalton School in NYC for more than three decades, made it clear that he was in it for the long haul.

“I love telling stories of the undertold,” he says. “I told them I coached girls’ basketball and it broke the ice. Like, ‘This guy actually cares about our sport and cares about us.’”

That dedication earned Feinberg a spot in the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame last year; he was honored in Tampa during the NCAA women’s Final Four. While some might have viewed it as the capper on an accomplished career, Feinberg views his induction as both validation and motivation.

“If I don’t treat the games in the next 20 years the same as I have the last 20 years, then I don’t deserve to be in the HoF,” he says. “Every game is a big game to somebody.”

Feinberg’s decades in the sport have also given him a front-row seat to the explosive growth the women’s game has experienced in recent years. He points to two seminal Final Fours as the changing point. In 2017, Mississippi State defeated top-ranked UConn with a buzzer-beating shot, ending the Huskies’ 111-game winning streak. The next year, Notre Dame also triumphed over UConn with a buzzer-beater in the semifinals, then won the championship at the buzzer, too.

Since then, amid factors including social media popularity, breakout stars and brand deals, both the WNBA and college game have blown up with record attendance. But Feinberg emphasizes that this kind of growth wouldn’t be possible without the foundation laid by legends like Cheryl Miller, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore.

While his HoF induction was one of his 2025 highlights, Feinberg got to witness Lions history last year, too — he was in North Carolina to see Columbia’s women’s team win its first NCAA tournament game.

“As a sportswriter, my favorite team is whoever is winning when I start writing my story,” Feinberg says. “But I’ll always have a special affinity for Columbia.”

— Emily Driehaus