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C. Vivian Stringer to miss remainder of Rutgers’ season

By Howard Megdal

PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 17: Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's head basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer is honored by Rutgers University for her 1,000th career win during the second quarter of the college football game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Rutgers Scarlet Knights on November 17, 2018, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, NJ (Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - NOVEMBER 17: Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's head basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer is honored by Rutgers University for her 1,000th career win during the second quarter of the college football game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Rutgers Scarlet Knights on November 17, 2018, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, NJ (Photo by John Jones/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Sad news out of Piscataway.

For the past few weeks, the plan has been straightforward: assistant coach Tim Eatman took over interim head coaching duties at Rutgers from C. Vivian Stringer, who was placed on medical rest by her doctors. Stringer was to return for the NCAA Tournament.

“I just try to stay away from her so that [she] can be refreshed so when we get to go to the NCAA Tournament,” Eatman said earlier this month. “[So] that she’s back full speed ready to go. And so that’s the first priority.”

Eatman has navigated the Scarlet Knights into a likely at-large bid. But what comes now has changed, with Rutgers announcing on Thursday that Stringer will miss the remainder of the season.

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“The invitation to play in the NCAA tournament is a crowning achievement for any team,” Stringer said in a press release on Thursday. “It speaks to the great effort on the part of our players and we are certainly hopeful that they will be rewarded on Monday. I am truly disappointed that I will not be able to join them, but I need to listen to my doctors. Being away from my team has been more difficult than I could have imagined, but thankfully they are under the great care of Tim Eatman and my assistants. I wish everyone the best and I will be cheering every step of the way.”

The plan is now for Stringer to return “later this year”, according to the release.

It is a disappointing end to what has been a seminal season in many ways for Stringer and the Rutgers program. A promising start has turned into a semifinal berth in the Big Ten tournament, a projected eight seed according to High Post Hoops’ latest bracketology, and a bright future with young players like Zippy Broughton developing.

In many ways, Stringer has loomed large this season the way she once did as a matter of course in women’s college basketball. Her 1,000th win reminded people of just how much she’s accomplished in her career, while her eloquence in defense of her recruit, Maori Davenport, served as a vital counterweight to the unjust actions of the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

The NCAA Tournament will be a lesser thing without C. Vivian Stringer. High Post Hoops, and all of basketball, wishes Stringer a full recovery and speedy return to the sidelines.

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