Stringer Named to Hall of Fame Board
Apr 27 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, TN - Rutgers women’s basketball head coach C. Vivian Stringer has been named one of seven new members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors serves as the selection committee to determine who will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The board holds its annual meeting in conjunction with Induction Weekend, to be held April 28-29 in Knoxville, TN.
In recognition of her many accomplishments and service to the game, Stringer was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame June 9, 2001. The first coach in men’s or women’s basketball to take three different schools to the Final Four (Cheyney University in 1982, The University of Iowa in 1993 and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in 2000), she has been a pioneer, visionary and innovator during her three decades on the sideline.
Stringer, who finished her 34th season (2005-2006) with a 750-251 (.749) overall record and a 230-116 (.665) mark in her 11 seasons at Rutgers, became the third women’s coach to notch 750 career Division I victories when her Scarlet Knights defeated TCU 82-48 in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament March 21. She moved into sole possession of third place on the Division I women’s victories list (709) with a 71-60 triumph at No. 14/13 Boston College Jan. 26, 2005.
Named one of the “101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports” by Sports Illustrated in 2003, Stringer continues to be one of the most recognized coaches in the game. A recipient of the Black Coaches Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, and she helped lead Team USA to a gold medal as an assistant coach for the 2004 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team in Athens, Greece. The 2005 BIG EAST Coach of the Year, Stringer was inducted into the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in October of 2005.
She has led her teams to 19 NCAA Tournament appearances, including eight of the last nine years, and has coached in seven regional finals. Last season (2005-2006), RU posted a 27-5 overall record and a perfect 16-0 slate in BIG EAST Conference play, winning its second straight league regular-season title. The Scarlet Knights advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, and finished ninth in the final top-25 polls.
The other new additions to the Board of Directors are Val Ackerman (USA Basketball president, former WNBA president), Charles Besser (founder, president and CEO of Intersport), Teresa Edwards (five-time Olympian), Betty Jo Graber (junior college basketball pioneer), Doris Rogers (seven-time AAU All-American) and Carol Stiff (ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions).
