PISCATAWAY, N.J. โ Following a legendary career at the helm of Rutgers women’s basketball from 1995-2022, Hall of Fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer will be enshrined on the court at Jersey Mike’s Arena with a dedication ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 4.
The Scarlet Knights will celebrate C. Vivian Stringer Day as the team opens Big Ten play against Ohio State. The contests will broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network, tipping off at 12 p.m. Single game and season tickets can be purchased here.
“This is a historic moment honoring a legendary woman in the world of sports and beyond,” said Athletic Director Pat Hobbs. “We are delighted for coach Stringer, her family, her letterwinners and all those she has impacted through the years. They now get to watch basketball games at Jersey Mike’s Arena on the C. Vivian Stringer Court.”
Rutgers will celebrate Stringer’s career and legacy throughout the day, welcoming letterwinners and fans back “On the Banks” with pregame and halftime ceremonies.
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Following a legendary career, Hall of Fame head coach C. Vivian Stringer will be enshrined on the court at Jersey Mike’s Arena with a dedication ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 4 ๐คฉ
๐ฐ: https://t.co/nmCmHOFmEy#GoRU | #RUWBB pic.twitter.com/7rds0kLjeU
โ Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) October 19, 2022
The second full-time head coach in Rutgers women’s basketball history, Stringer served at the helm of the Scarlet Knights from 1995-2022, finishing her career as the longest tenured RU women’s basketball coach. During that span, Stringer won 535 games with the Scarlet Knights while qualifying for 17 NCAA Tournaments, including 10 consecutively from 2003 to 2012.
The 2022 Rutgers Hall of Fame Inductee led Rutgers to a pair of Final Four appearances in 2000 and 2007, with the latter culminating in RU’s first NCAA Championship game. In 2000, she became the first men’s or women’s basketball coach to guide three different programs to the Final Four after playing in the first NCAA Championship Game with Cheyney State in 1992 and leading Iowa to the national semifinals in 1993. In addition to her Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2009 and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2001, Stringer entered another elite club with a 2020 induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame alongside Eli Manning, Rick Barry, Ed Harris, and Anne Hathaway.
Stringer’s historic impact was evident at every stop. She turned paltry resources and pre-Title IX injustices at a small, historically Black school at Cheyney State into a run at the national title. She turned a seven-win Iowa program that ranked 299th out of 302 teams in attendance figures into a perennial contender that posted its first-ever advance sellout of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Within three seasons at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights won 20 games and won a Big East division title. Within five years, RU rose to national prominence as the women’s game exploded in popularity across the United States. Stringer surpassed the monumental 1,000 career victory mark in November 2018. She became the fifth NCAA Division I women’s basketball coach to reach 1,000 career wins and was the first African-American coach to reach the milestone. She retired ranked fifth all-time in NCAA women’s basketball history with 1,055 career victories. In 2019-20, Stringer passed the late, great Pat Summitt and became the NCAA record holder with 37 seasons of 20 or more victories. Following that season, she received the John R.
Wooden Award “Legends of Coaching” honor based on character, success on the court, graduation rate of student-athletes in their basketball program, coaching philosophy, and identification with the goals of the John R. Wooden Award. Her standard of excellence extends to Stringer’s staff and student-athletes. In March 2021, Stringer was honored in the Sports Business Journal as a Leader in Diversity and Inclusive Hiring. Stringer also recruited, developed, and coached 21 student-athletes who would be selected in the WNBA Draft, along with others who played professionally overseas. Stringer has served the game of basketball as an administrator and an international coach. An assistant coach for the gold-medal 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, her first USA Basketball experience came as an assistant for the bronze-medal 1980 USA Jones Cup Team. Stringer was one of the key players in the development of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. Stringer served on the Board of Directors of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, created in fall 2007. The Foundation, in partnership with the V Foundation for Cancer Research, is an initiative to fight breast cancer.
In an effort to further Coach Stringer’s legacy, the C. Vivian Stringer Endowed Scholarship is striving to fund an endowed student-athlete scholarship that will provide financial aid for future women’s basketball Scarlet Knights. Coach Stringer has dedicated her life to creating a legacy of integrity, tradition, and pride within her programs and her student-athletes. Future Scarlet Knights will be given the opportunity to receive a first-class education at Rutgers University and compete for the women’s basketball team with the support of this endowed scholarship. Supporters can donate to the C. Vivian Stringer Endowed Scholarship here.
Follow Rutgers women’s basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@RutgersWBB) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersWBB). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter(@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), and Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
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