Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer earns 1,000th career win

Staff writer

Tue, 13 Nov 2018, 9:28 pm

Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer picked up her 1,000th career win on Tuesday, becoming just the fifth Division I women’s coach in history to do so. (Rich Schultz /Getty Images)

Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer joined an elite club on Tuesday night at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

The Scarlet Knights cruised to an easy 73-44 victory on Tuesday against Central Connecticut State, marking the Hall of Fame coach’s 1,000th career win.

1️⃣🏀🏀🏀‼️ Congratulations to R Hall of Fame head coach @Cvivianstringer on 1,000 career victories!
#CVS1K #HERstoryCreated pic.twitter.com/SazdvqvsHH
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) November 14, 2018

The win makes Stringer, who was entered into the Hall of Fame in 2009, just the fifth Division I women’s coach in history to reach the mark, and the first African-American coach to do so.

“I think it’s special,” Stringer said on Monday, via Rivals.com. “I appreciate the people that appreciated the love I had for the game. I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to shape the lives of the young women that I’ve had. What I love about this game is you can so quickly be down, and yet you can find a way and overcome what you are fearful of. This game teaches you how to be humble, appreciative, and respectful. I’ve seen it all.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have athletic directors and presidents who have believed in me.”

Stringer, who is in her 48th season, joins legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, UConn’s Geno Auriemma and North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell in the 1,000-win club. Division II coach Barbara Stevens is also on the list, having won 1,013 games.

By comparison, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski leads the men’s side with 1,102 victories.

The 70-year-old got her start at Cheyney State in 1971, and became the head coach at Iowa in 1983. She took over at Rutgers to start the 1995 season, and has quickly become the winningest basketball coach at the university on both the men’s and women’s side. She has reached the Final Four four times in her career — at least once at all three program’s she has coached at — and won six Big Ten regular season titles.

She currently holds a 1,000-402 career record as a head coach.