Today we learned that Rutgers head women’s basketball coach, C. Vivian Stringer, one of the greatest coaches in all of college basketball, is retiring after 50 years.
Effective September 1st, Stringer will end a long and decorated career on the collegiate sidelines where she amassed 1,055 wins, four Final Four appearances, and 28 NCAA Tournament appearances.
“I am officially announcing my retirement,” said Stringer. “My life has been defined by coaching and I’ve been on this journey for over five decades. It is rare that someone gets to do what they love for this long and I have been fortunate to do that.”
Stringer began her coaching career in 1971 at Cheyney State, where she was joined by fellow coaching legend John Chaney a year later. In 1982, Stringer led the HBCU program into the first NCAA women’s Final Four and was named National Coach of the Year.
More than a decade later, she left to become the head coach at Iowa in 1983. There she turned the program around, setting an attendance record at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 1985 and leading another team to the Final Four. For her efforts, she was once again named National Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1993.
After the passing of her husband Bill, Stringer returned East and took the head coaching job at Rutgers in 1995.
During her tenure at Rutgers, Stringer won 535 games with the Scarlet Knights. She led the team to 17 NCAA Tournaments, including 10 consecutive appearances between 2003 and 2012. She also made the Final Four in 2000 and 2007, the latter resulting in Rutgers’ first NCAA Championship game where they lost to Pat Summitt, Candace Parker and Tennessee.
In 2000, Stringer became the first basketball coach, men’s or women’s, to lead three different programs to the Final Four (Cheyney in 1982, Iowa in 1993 and Rutgers in 2000).
Stringer was inducted into the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Famer in 2001 and won a Gold medal as an assistant coach on the 2004 Olympic Basketball team.
Five years later in 2009, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, capping a legendary career that is rarely seen in college basketball, period.
But she was more than a basketball coach.
She was a true leader and a history maker.
With limited resources, she turned a small HBCU program into a national title contender and then did the same at Iowa and Rutgers.
Stringer was also the first African-American coach to reach the 1,000 career wins milestone. She fought for diversity on and off the court and became an inspiration to other Black coaches such as South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.
“The strength of your shoulders allowed us to stand tall,” tweeted Staley. “We will forever keep your legacy in our hearts. Thank you coach Stringer.”
Rutgers, in a fitting tribute, will name the court at Jersey Mike’s Arena the C. Vivian Stringer Court, ensuring that all who watch and play the sport recognize what she has done not just for Rutgers, but for basketball as a whole.
“After recently celebrating the first women’s Final Four team at Cheyney State University, where it all started, it sat with me that I have been at this for a long time. It is important to step aside and challenge others to step up and take this game forward,” Stringer said.
Thanks to coach Stringer, there are other highly qualified and successful coaches like Staley to continue to push the game forward.
