Rutgers has dedicated its court to legendary basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer.
Court dedicated to Vivian Stringer
The now retired iconic women’s basketball coach was honored before the team’s game against Ohio State Sunday.
“I was stunned when I saw that. I still can’t believe that,” an emotional Stringer said of seeing her name on the court.
Only a few schools have named their courts after women’s basketball coaches, including Tennessee for Pat Summitt, NC State for Kay Yow, Arkansas-Little Rock for Joe Foley and DePaul for Doug Bruno. And now Stringer for Rutgers.
The dedication is well deserved
The 74-year-old has won 1,055 games in her 50-year Hall of Fame career before retiring after last season. She was at Rutgers from 1995 to 2022 after stints at Cheyney State and Iowa.
Stringer was fourth all time among Division I women’s basketball coaches in wins behind Tara VanDerveer, Geno Auriemma and Summitt.
She made four Final Four appearances, reached the NCAA tournament 28 times, won a Big East and WNIT titles. She was the first coach in men’s or women’s basketball to take three different teams to the national semifinals.
Stringer was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. She also served as an assistant coach on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal.
“I think my team knows that, when I’m overwhelmed with emotion…” Stringer said during her halftime speech, unable to end the sentence without getting emotional. “I’m just proud.”
