(Guru's note: Our preview of Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer's first opportunity to collect career victory No. 800 Wednesday night is over at philly.com in the printed sports section of The Inquirer. Stephen was on the scene on campus Tuesday when the Women's Basketball Hall of Famer chatted with the media in Piscataway, N.J. His report follows here. We'll be on hand Wednesday night. --Mel)
By Stephen K. Lee
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – As she prepares for Rutgers’ game against DePaul on Wednesday, head coach C. Vivian Stringer has only one thing on her mind.
And it’s not win No. 800.
Following Tuesday’s practice, the Hall of Fame coach spoke to the media and flipped through three multi-page packets of notes that she’s crafted to ready the No. 4 Scarlet Knights (22-4, 12-1 Big East) for the visiting Blue Demons (18-8, 7-6).
“It’s that important,” Stinger says while pointing to papers that look like study guides for a calculus test instead of a basketball coach’s practice notes. “What I’m trying to say is I’m not going to the mall, I’m not getting sleep. I know that we need to pay great attention. I’m greatly concerned because this is like Villanova but much more athletic.”
For Stringer, who’s in her 37th year of coaching, milestones like her 800th win are overshadowed more by the task at hand. She prefers the benchmark pass quietly without a lot of fanfare.
“I don’t want to lose – not because of the 800,” she continues. “I think there have been plenty of coaches that have had the delay, delay, delay. Before the end of the year, we’re going to win 800, so what’s the big deal?”
“We need to (beat DePaul) because we need to demonstrate to ourselves that we can: 1. play zones, 2. we can play man-to-man defense.”
However, all of the buildup for No. 800 has given Stringer an opportunity to reflect upon how blessed she’s been to do a job she loves.
“I’m aware of Bob Knight and Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt,” she says referring to the man who notched his 900th win on the men’s side last month and the two women who currently reside in the 800 and 900 clubs in the women’s game. “I don’t even think about the 800. Sometimes I get confused and say, ‘Is it 700 or is it 800?’ I really do because no one starts off trying to achieve a number.
“I feel very fortunate because I get excited every day coming to practice. But if someone were to have told me, gee, I’m going to be coaching for 30-something years – that’s a job and I don’ t want to think of it that way.”
In fact, Stringer didn’t think of coaching women’s basketball as a job when she started the 37-year journey that’s taken her to four Final Fours with three different schools.
“I think that when I first started coaching at Cheyney (in the Philadelphia suburbs) – keep in mind that I never planned to coach,” she says. “I always wanted to play, but I just wanted to be a gym teacher.”
Stringer says that she initially envisioned coaching as “boring.” But, after realizing that there wasn’t a league for her to play in back in those days, she later changed her tune when she worked as a graduate assistant while pursuing her master’s degree.
“I wanted to say to my coach sometimes, ‘Why don’t we do this, why don’t we do that?’”
In 1971, Stringer, still in her early twenties, took the head coaching job at Cheyney, a small African-American school, where she got her first taste of how rewarding the occupation can be.
“I can honestly say I don’t even remember the first win,” she says. “But what I do remember is that I felt really worthwhile because it looked to me that those girls…I gave them pride in themselves.”
Stringer later built Cheyney into an early power in women’s basketball before continuing her work at Iowa and Rutgers.
Three of Stringer’s current players (Matee Ajavon, Essence Carson and Katie Adams) witnessed her 700th win when they were freshmen and they are happy to help her make history once again.
“I think it’s a good accomplishment for Coach Stringer,” says Ajavon before recalling her fondest memory of win No. 700.
“I just remember lifting Coach Stringer up and being happy for her and Mariota (Theodoris) holding her on top of her shoulder. So it was a great day.”
Adams shares similar sentiments about her coach.
“She never ceases to amaze me.”
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