Rutgers Women's Basketball: C. Vivian Stringer announces her retirement
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Legendary Rutgers women’s basketball head coach C. Vivian Stringer announced her retirement on Saturday.
The Naismith Hall of Fame inductee's retirement becomes effective on Sept. 1, 2022. A national search for the next head coach at Rutgers will begin immediately.
Stringer coached on the sidelines for 50 years at Cheyney State, Iowa, and then with the Scarlet Knights, earning 1,055 wins in the process with four Final Four appearances and 28 berths into the NCAA Tournament.
“I am officially announcing my retirement," Stringer said in a statement. "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. I love Rutgers University for the incredible opportunity they offered me and the tremendous victories we achieved together. There's always a soft spot in my heart for the University of Iowa and Dr. Christine Grant for giving me my first major coaching position, when me and my husband trusted her to move our family to Iowa. She was a strong believer in women's rights and that's a responsibility that I have championed and will continue to take up the fight for.
"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. I am forever indebted to all the coaches who I worked beside. Some were former players, some were colleagues, but all were friends and family at the end of the day and were my most trusted relationships. To the young ladies that I was fortunate to have coached and mentored into the women and leaders of today, keep pushing the barriers, keep pushing for your spot at the table, and always know who you are.
"This was the hardest decision of my life, but I thank God he has allowed me to do the thing I love most. I am ready to start my new journey and spending more time with my family, children, and grandchildren. I am truly blessed to have had so many wonderful people in my life."
Rutgers Athletic Director, Pat Hobbs, and university President, Jonathan Holloway, offered their comments as well.
"Coach Stringer is a titan in college basketball, inspiring generations of student-athletes and coaches to pursue excellence on and off the court,” Hobbs said. “"As the first coach to lead three different programs to the Final Four, she will continue to be mentioned along with the game's other great Hall of Famers. Her place in the history of the game is cemented, but more remarkable is the legions of young women whose lives she helped shape.
Added Holloway: “Coach Stringer's impact has been felt across our campuses, around the state and throughout the nation. She is an icon whose accomplishments on and off the court are as remarkable as they are inspiring.”
To honor Stringer’s legacy, all basketball games at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway will be played on C. Vivian Stringer Court. A formal dedication ceremony will take place during the upcoming women’s basketball season.
"Naming the court at one of the most notable venues in college basketball after her is a fitting and indelible tribute to one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Holloway said.
Stringer has been at the helm of the Rutgers women’s basketball team since 1995. In that time, Stringer has won 535 games, qualified for 17 NCAA Tournaments including 10 in a row from 2003-212, and led the Scarlet Knights to a pair of Final Fours in 2000 and 2007. Rutgers made the national championship game in 2007.
In 2000, Stringer became the first coach, men’s or women’s, to guide three different teams to the Final Four after playing in the first NCAA Championship Game with Cheyney State in 1992. She also led Iowa to the semifinals in 1993.
A mother who has mentored countless young women and student-athletes, Stringer who achieved 1,000 wins in November 2018, has made an impact on and off the court. Stringer turned low recourses and pre-Title IX injustices at a small historically Black institution, Cheyney State, into a national title run. She turned a seven-win Iowa team program that ranked near the very bottom of attendance figures into a winner and one that had its first-ever sellout. At Rutgers, she won 20 games within just three years and won a Big East division title. Within five years, the Scarlet Knights rose into the national spotlight and helped up women’s basketball popularity across the country.
Stringer became the first Division-I women’s basketball coach to achieve 1,000 wins and the first African-American to reach the milestone. She retires as the fifth-winningest NCAA women’s basketball coach all-time.
In 2021, Stringer was honored in teh Sports Business Journal as a Leader in Diversity and Inclusive Hiring. Stringer also recruited, developed, and coached 21 student-athletes who would go on to be selected in the WNBA Draft, along with others who played professionally elsewhere overseas.
In her time as coach, Stringer was an assistant for the gold medal 2004 U.S. Olympic Team. She’s also been one of the key figures in the development of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and served on the Board of Directors of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
Stringer is a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Fifth all-time in wins (all divisions) with 1,055 career victories
• First coach (men's or women's) to lead three different schools to the NCAA Final Four (Cheyney 1982; Iowa - 1993; Rutgers - 2000, 2007)
• Fifth women's coach to reach 1,000 career wins
• Fourth women's coach and seventh coach all-time (men's or women's) to register 900 wins
• Third women's coach to record 750, 800 and 850 wins
• First African-American Division I coach (men's or women's) to reach 1,000 victory mark
• 28 NCAA Tournament appearances (1982-83, 1986-94, 1998-2001, 2003-2012, 2014-15, 2018-19, 2020-21)
• Nine NCAA Tournament Regional Finals (1982, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008)
• 17 All-Big Ten selections, including one Defensive Player of the Year
• 41 All-BIG EAST honorees, including four Defensive Players of the Year
• Nation's best defensive team in 1981, 1983 and 1993
• Nation's second-best defensive team in 1985, 2005, 2006 and 2008
• 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982 Pennsylvania AIAW state champions
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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