WBCA Honors Stringer’s Historic Coaching Career
Legendary former Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer has been named the 2026 recipient of the Betty F. Jaynes Lifetime Achievement Award The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced June 16, 2026.
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The award recognizes Stringer’s influence on women’s basketball during a Hall of Fame coaching career that spanned more than five decades. Named for the WBCA’s first and longest-serving executive director, the honor adds to a lengthy list of accolades for one of the most accomplished coaches in college basketball history.
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Women’s Basketball head coach Stringer retired in 2022 after coaching 27 seasons for Rutgers 1995-2022 where she won 535 games and took the program to 17 NCAA Tournaments. Rutgers reached 10 consecutive tournaments from 2003 through 2012 and advanced to the Final Four in 2000 and 2007.
The Scarlet Knights’ 2007 run ended in the program’s first appearance in the NCAA championship game.
“Coach Stringer’s impact on the game of basketball is immeasurable,” Rutgers head coach Gary Redus II said. “She built a legacy that extends far beyond wins and championships, opening doors for generations of student-athletes and coaches while setting the standard for excellence, leadership and integrity.”
Stringer Made History at Three Programs
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When Stringer arrived at Rutgers she had established a program at national levels. Previously she had established successful programs at Cheyney State and Iowa. In 2000, she became the first men’s or women’s basketball coach to lead three different schools to the Final Four.
Stringer served as the first coach of the Cheyney State University women’s basketball team, which participated in the NCAA Women’s Division II Basketball Championship in 1982. In 1993, she took the Hawkeyes to the Final Four, and in 2000, led the Rutgers University women’s basketball team to its first-ever NCAA national semifinal appearance.
Stringer reached another historic milestone in November 2018 when she earned her 1,000th career victory. She became the fifth Division I women’s basketball coach and the first African American coach to reach that mark.
She retired with 1,055 victories, ranking fifth in NCAA women’s basketball history at the time. During the 2019-20 season, Stringer surpassed Pat Summitt by recording her 37th season with at least 20 victories.
Feb 12, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights head coach C. Vivian Stringer with her team before the start of the game against the DePaul Blue Demons at McGrath-Phillips Arena. C. Vivian Stringer is going for her 900th coaching win. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Legacy Extends Beyond Rutgers
Stringer’s achievements at the University went far beyond winning games with her team of talented players. In fact, she was able to recruit and mold 21 individuals into players who went on to be selected in the WNBA draft. Other Stringer players went on to play in overseas professional leagues as well.
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She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Stringer later joined the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2020 and received the John R. Wooden Award’s Legends of Coaching honor following the 2019-20 season.
The WBCA previously named Stringer its NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1993. She also received the organization’s Carol Eckman Award, now known as the Carol Eckman Integrity in Coaching Award, in 1993.
The award, the Betty F. Jaynes Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizes the most influential figures in women’s basketball. And it recognizes Stringer again at Rutgers, where she had taken the program to new heights.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/rutgers as C. Vivian Stringer Receives WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award.
