C. Vivian Stringer 4/25 Teleconference Quotes
Apr 25 | Women's Basketball
QUOTES, C. VIVIAN STRINGER TELECONFERENCE
April 25, 2007
I intend to remain at Rutgers until I decide to coach no longer. Each place I have coached I have been 11 or 12 years. There is no question this is the longest I have been at a school and I clearly want to stay. I love New Jersey and want to stay in New Jersey. I am so excited Mr. Mulcahy found me worthy enough to get a contract and stay here. I am excited and appreciate the opportunity to stay and coach the Scarlet Knights. I am from the East and perfectly happy and comfortable at home where we can take this to the next level.
Was the contract a renegotiation, did it have to be done this year based on contract or could it have waited?
It's been ongoing for some time. You never wait until the last second and the contract had to be negotiated this year. We started talking a year ago.
Are you happy with terms of contract?
I am ecstatic with the terms of contract and it speaks volumes about Rutgers and certainly for Mr. Mulcahy and President McCormick. It told me they were committed to me and to Rutgers women's basketball and they are proud of the work I have done and they expect me to continue in the same vain. It shows they appreciate my career here and commitment and what I promised and what I have done. I can not thank them enough for say, hey we appreciate you and want you to stay. I have never stayed at any institution more than 12 years but nor have I been a person who has just gotten up and gone. I am from the East and I am here where I belong and I am excited. The fans are great and I am excited to continue to make everyone in our state and our university proud. I think you felt the excitement after our football team and Coach Schiano did the things they did. I appreciate they thought enough of me to ask me to stay and guide their program."
Did you field any phone calls from any other schools?
I would never have done that unless I talked to my athletic director first. Mr. Mulcahy is my athletic director and I am proud of the way he has promoted our programs. You saw him at each of the rounds of the NCAA. Anytime you see your Governor (Corzine) and your President at the BIG EAST championships and through the NCAA march, you get excited. I don't know if there are a lot of coaches across the country, who can say that. And not only did they come out and support, but our football and our basketball coaches (did too). We want to do the right thing for the state of New Jersey and for Rutgers. I am happy they wanted me to stay."
How much did the contracts and extensions for other coaches, Gail Goestenkors and KimMulkey-Robertson, help in your negotiations?
I think without question that my athletic director and my president felt I was clearly one of the top five, six, seven coaches in the country. And as Mr. Mulcahy said (in the statement), I am well deserving as were those coaches you mentioned and what they bring to the table. In some instances you have national championships and in some instances you have great crowds. When it is all said and done, based on the success before I had but more importantly what I was able to do when came and where we were and were we have been on a consistent basis. I think Mr. Mulcahy said, you know what, you are the kind of person I want to lead our program. I am proud of what you do and I want to demonstrate that at the highest levels and I appreciate that.
Is this the start of productive trends in giving women's college coaches their just due?
This is a start. It spells (out) a couple things. As you know, there are a lot more revenue producing TV opportunities for various programs and for all these conferences. When that happens, athletic directors and presidents don't want to see good money after bad money, much like the men you need to produce or you will not be there any longer. There was a time you did not fire a women. I think with the kind of money that being talked about and produced, for those of us who have worked hard and produced consistent programs. There will be universities who want to be synonymous with first class coaches. That is generally reflected in the kind of salaries that people are paying and willing to pay for the best. They are not going to throw it out there for anybody. I think when you have earned that right, it is possible for a female coach or a coach of a female program can make monies and they are saying we are thinking of you a little more equal than in years past.
Did the success of the past year aid in the contract?
Did our success winning, or going to a Final Four help (with the contract). I would say, yes.
It helped, don't you think. I would venture to say, what if we bombed or didn't even get invited (to NCAA), there is a good chance, I would have still signed a contract. Would it have been as promising, maybe not? In fact, I know it would not have been. Common sense tells me that. But if you talk to anyone that was able to view (this team), as you probably did, from the beginning of the season and you were able to see the five freshmen and another group of five with no seniors and you were able to see how we developed from the first game. Wow. Well, that should tell anyone, we do know how to build. We didn't have much but we stayed with it and the promise of this program and its success is good for so many years to come. When you think about it, there is not one person in America -including me- that would have given you 10 cents to believe we would be in Cleveland and look up and see a sign that said, 'And then there were two.' It's easy for people to sort of have a fly-by-night season and there are coaches who have stepped in and won one national championship, you can't remember who they were and they fade into the night. But I think that Mr. Mulcahy has indicated is, he has been here, he's observed, he has seen that at the consistent level, we have been at the top. And to see this year, with what we did, with what we had and what we became, it I think it made him feel that he said, I want to demonstrate to you I care about you and respect you and you are worthy and a want to bring about a reflection for your salary of what I think of you as a person. And I thank him.
You said earlier this year, you had thought about quitting? Coaching for long time?
I would quit tomorrow if I did not feel good, or did not enjoy getting up and coaching. It would not matter how long my contract was. Coaching is one of these things where the kids can tell if you feel it or not. It is not like a computer, where a computer doesn't know if you don't enjoy it. It just responds. Coaching is really naked, I think the kids feel the enthusiasm, the drive, the fire. You'll k now. That passion is something I have always been driven by. The same reason, I coached for 12 years at Cheyney and didn't get paid a dime. It was a passion and I could not have worked harder. As long as I have the passion and when I don't and it become a job, you will hear I left. I do not think money defines (your drive). You grow through the years. You don't measure. Look at the Kentucky Derby. If you one horse who wins by a nose and gets 10 million dollars and the one gets a hundred thousand, is it that much more. It's just that race, a difference of inches. If I have given everything I can and continue to do more than there is no way to measure a million dollar contract versus a 20 thousand dollar contract. Young people should always do the best they can.
If every controversy, there is always a backlash. Same thing has happened in the Imus situation: in the blogesphere, certain media commentators. There has been certain backlash to a certain extent, I don't necessarily agree with. Those that say, the team shouldn't have reacted the way they did, should have ignored, Coach Stringer used as a recruiting tool to get publicity. What have you heard and what is your reaction?
No, and I am sorry you told me so I am hearing it for first time and that hurts me. I have not read and don't have time to read anything like that. I don't even know how to get on a blog, I guess that's on a computer, right? If you send me an email, and I mean no disrespect, I maybe look at my email once a week, if not. I know how to text, but I know no one has sent me anything along those lines text-wise. I would urge you and everyone to remember one thing, Rutgers University and Coach Stringer were going along our merry business. We went from what many people only dream of, to go from nothing to fkind themselves in a championship season. That was a Cinderella season. It's a story that anyone would want to tell their daughters, if you were in a job- a big league baseball player you come from the manger to something special. We didn't ask for that. We came home, as any other team would. Most of those kids, 17, 18, 19 year olds, come back expecting to hurt a little bit because we lost to Tennessee. We knew we would be in the arms of our fans, our state, our parents and friends and we together would feel good about the season that there were only two teams in the nation that reached that high level. Instead, we come back to less than 24 hours. Ignore what. I wish it had not happened. I think in retrospect, everyone needs to look the way we handled it. I think we handled it with grace, with dignity. And when it is all said and done, perhaps all the people who even wrote that (blog), which I have to consider them to be more negative That is the problem in this world, we Ignore everything. As Essence said, We become desensitized. It's time, we learn to stand. What do we teach our young people? How else would be have done it? Send it on an email. I don't think so. I think when it is all said and done, I think Mr. Imus and Rutgers will be together in our attempt to help everybody to become a lot more sensitive and get some things done. I don't think he will ignore it because he is a better man than what showed up there. This team is not going to do it because these are the young people are showing us old people need to move aside and give way and let young people grow. For anyone else to think or say, I am glad I do not know how to use a blog. And if that's what it is used for, I will never know how to use a blog.
What particulars are in contract? Anything about upgrading of locker room?
We tried to consider all things that would make for an excellent program. And one that will benefit the whole program and in particular for us to recruit with like teams. And who are like teams, whoever you consider to be top five, top 10 teams in the country. There will be a lot of things like that in the contract. We have a lot we want to do more to promote our program I hope our fans will come out and support because they deserve it. You just don't go in and throw a piece of paper down and say, what is the bottom line. What are you going to make? That is not what happened. There are a lot of things written that are what you would expect. They are undisclosed at this moment.
