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).
Continue reading over at First and Pen.
This content has been brought to you by First and Pen in partnership with ShineMyCrown. First and Pen “amplifies local sports stories from voices of color to the national conscience…”
Follow @FirstandPen on Twitter.
