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The history and legacy of C. Vivian Stringer, 1000 wins strong

By Jasmine Brown

03 January 2009: Rutgers Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer and Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summit chat before game time during a NCAA Women's basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Tennessee Lady Vols at the Louis Brown Athletic Center (RAC) in Piscataway, NJ. Rutgers blow a 20 point lead at halftime and was defeated by Tennessee 55-51. (Photo by Duncan Williams/Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
03 January 2009: Rutgers Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer and Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summit chat before game time during a NCAA Women's basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Tennessee Lady Vols at the Louis Brown Athletic Center (RAC) in Piscataway, NJ. Rutgers blow a 20 point lead at halftime and was defeated by Tennessee 55-51. (Photo by Duncan Williams/Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images) /
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The Rutgers coach, C. Vivian Stringer, is poised to reach a milestone decades in the making.

Remember the 1970s. You were paying 40 cents for gas for your car while it’s blasting ABC by the Jackson 5 on a crisp spring day. Weekend nights, you would watch a new episode of All My Children while trying out a new stovetop meal launched by Betty Crocker called Hamburger Helper. A movie ticket was all the rage at a measly cost of $1.50, and if you wanted a weekend family getaway, the Happiest Place on Earth was at your leisure.

All of these memories were created back then, but another memory, a legendary one, would be created on the basketball court. A woman by the name of C. Vivian Stringer would stand on the sidelines to begin her coaching career, not knowing that 48 years later, would reach a milestone of achieving 1,000 wins in women’s college basketball history, which she can achieve with a win Tuesday night over Central Connecticut State.

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But first, let’s take a look back to what was happening when C. Vivian Stringer first became head coach:

The average cost of a new house: $25,250.

The average cost of a house now? $291,538.

United States Postage Stamp: 8 cents

Stringer first began her coaching career at Cheyney University, a historically black university, in 1972. Cheyney State College would reach the final four in 1982, an amazing feat that college coaches rarely do with an HBCU, given the financial limits of those institutions.

Stringer, however, made it work. Stringer then headed to Iowa, where she took the Hawkeyes to the Final Four in 1993. Worries that her daughter was not learning enough about her culture as an African-American in predominately white Iowa, Stringer took the head coaching job at Rutgers University in 1995. She took that squad to the Final Four in 2000 and 2007. Stringer is the first coach in NCAA history to lead three different women’s programs to the NCAA Final Four.

In 2013, Stringer became just the seventh coach — men’s or women’s — to reach the 900-win mark.

18 Feb 1996: Coach C. Vivian Stringer of the Rutgers Scarlett Knights watches her players during a game against the Connecticut Huskies at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Rutgers, New Jersey. Connecticut won the game 73-61.
18 Feb 1996: Coach C. Vivian Stringer of the Rutgers Scarlett Knights watches her players during a game against the Connecticut Huskies at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Rutgers, New Jersey. Connecticut won the game 73-61. /

When asked how it felt to be this close to this milestone and if it cements anything, Stringer just simply could not believe she would even make it there.

“It’s special,” Stringer told reporters on a teleconference Monday. “I remember hearing about another coach winning 1,000 wins in high school. I spoke to myself, ‘Wow, that’s amazing, you’ll never get that.’ I remember at 800 or 700 and I just kept thinking it was just a lot of games. It doesn’t cement anything, but that I’ve been blessed I should stop and think and reflect all the time about the time that people have trusted me to coach the teams. The young ladies have given me and my staff a chance. They believed in me.”

Stringer is the fifth active winningest Division I coach and sixth all-time in career wins in NCAA women’s basketball history. She also holds the record for most Big Ten victories in conference history with 199 wins in league play. She won 169 games while at Iowa and 30 at Rutgers.

Now, after Stringer has compiled a 999-402 career record entering her the 48th season of coaching, she is just one win away from joining the elite 1000-win club in women’s basketball. Stringer also added in her teleconference that she was grateful for the people that taught her the game, and had appreciation for the people who accomplished great things amid challenges they faced.

“My mom and dad taught me a long time ago to know that nothing happens by accident, have a great appreciation for those people that prepare for challenges, that when they reach those pinnacles, everybody can’t do that,” Stringer said. “It meant a great deal to be a student it did. I had nothing but respect for people who accomplished, because i know how it is to do that.”

04 JAN 2015: Rutgers Scarlet Knights head coach C. Vivian Stringer during the National Anthem of the game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Iowa Hawkeyes played at The RAC on the campus of Rutgers University. The Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 79-72. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images)
04 JAN 2015: Rutgers Scarlet Knights head coach C. Vivian Stringer during the National Anthem of the game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Iowa Hawkeyes played at The RAC on the campus of Rutgers University. The Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 79-72. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images) /

Stringer has done a lot for the basketball community, but she is also an important figure in the African-American community. She once sued her high school for not allowing her to be a cheerleader because of her race. She eventually won that case and was given a spot on her school’s cheerleading squad. This made her the first black cheerleader in her town since 1955–1958. Now, she is looking to become the first African-American head coach to reach 1,000 wins in sports history.

“It’s special for me and I recognize the impact I have had,” Stringer said of her import to the African-American coaches who have followed her. “I can stand off to the side and look at them and see the young ladies coaching. The fact that I’ve made a difference is something I won’t forget.”

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