C. Vivian Stringer holds one of the best coaching records in the history of women’s collegiate basketball, so why is it that her name remains unfamiliar to so many sports fans? The unjust reality is that the hard work, challenges, and successes of Black women in sport are often devalued or unrecognized. This article aims to celebrate Stringer’s outstanding accomplishments, discuss barriers to head coach positions that exist for Black women, outline the importance of having Black female head coaches, and look to suggestions for change.

C. Vivian Stringer coaching in 2020. Photo from Lorie Shaull

Stringer’s Legacy

C. Vivian Stringer was born and raised in Edenborn Pennsylvania, where her father worked as a coal miner. Growing up as a Black girl in a predominantly white community, Stringer experienced discrimination from a young age. In high school, Stringer was excluded from the cheerleading team due to the colour of her skin. A representative from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who was present during the tryouts, approached Stringer and her family to encourage her to protest her case. Stringer successfully presented her case before the school board, winning the case and a spot on the team. In later years, Stringer went on to win a lot more. Stringer started her coaching career at Cheyney State University in 1971. In 1982, she made history with the team as the first coach to take a Historically Black College or University to the Final Four. Stringer then moved on to coach at the University of Iowa from 1983-1995, taking the team to the Final Four in 1993. Stringer spent the last 27 years of her coaching career with Rutgers University, leading the team to two Final Four appearances in 2000 and 2007.  

Stringer is a Hall of Famer and three-time recipient of the National Coach of the Year award. She is the first coach, male or female, to take three different schools to the Final Four. Stringer did not have the advantage of having a Black female coach to look up to in the basketball world, so she became the role model for future generations. In 2002, the U.S. Sports Academy founded the C. Vivian Stringer Coaching Award to annually recognize a woman who has experienced outstanding achievement as a coach. After 50 years of coaching, and a total of 1,055 wins, Stringer announced her retirement in April of 2022.

“She recognized the importance of helping them to develop into young ladies and not just as basketball players on the court. Her true assessment of how she is as a coach is how her players developed as people”

Coach Carolyn Peck, former head coach of the WNBA Orlando Miracle

Stringer’s legacy travels far beyond her successes on the court. In 2008, Williams and Quarterman conducted a qualitative study on the effect of C. Vivian Stringer’s leadership and positive mentorship on her players, assistant coaches, and peers. In the semi-structured interviews, she was described as a coach who empowered others to reach their dreams, focused on developing the whole person, and emphasized developing a sense of confidence and trust in others (Williams & Quarterman, 2008). Another leadership characteristic that was discussed at length was Stringer’s professional demeanor. Individuals described Coach Stringer as a class act; someone who maintains their composure regardless of the situation (Williams & Quarterman, 2008). A prime example of Coach Stringer’s professionalism is how she handled the Don Imus incident, which sparked a national conversation about racism. Stringer has and continues to be a role model not only for her coaches and players, but also for young Black women with aspirations to coach basketball.

C. Vivian Stringer coaching in 2020. Photo from Lorie Shaull

Black Women and the Media: The Don Imus Incident

In 2007, the NCAA women’s basketball championship reached the headlines for the wrong reasons. The day after Rutgers lost to Tennessee in the finals, Don Imus took to his talk show to speak about the Rutgers team using derogatory language; “That’s some rough girls from the Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos … That’s some nappy-headed hos there”. Imus’ racist and sexist remarks overshadowed the team’s impressive season and stole what should have been a special moment for the team. Stringer, who is no stranger to standing up for what is right, acted as the spokesperson for the Rutgers.

“While they worked hard in the classroom and accomplished so much and used their gifts and talents, you know, to bring the smiles and the pride within this state in so many people, we had to experience racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable, and abominable and unconscionable. It hurts me.”

C. Vivian Stringer

Imus’ remarks are an example of misogynoir, which is prevalent in sports media (Bailey, 2016; Razack & Joseph, 2021). Sports commentators frequently scrutinize the looks and bodies of Black female athletes and often hypersexualize them or question their femininity (Carter-Francique, 2016). Misogynoir is a term that combines anti-Black racism and misogyny. It was created by Moya Bailey to describe the harmful representations of Black women in the media. These representations are problematic because they perpetuate negative stereotypes of Black women, which can lead to racist gendered violence (Bailey, 2016). To address the incident, the Rutgers hosted a televised news conference. Stringer instructed her players to speak from their hearts and express their feelings, assuring them that the world will see them with compassion, respect, and full of dignity. A couple days after the Rutgers news conference was broadcasted, Imus’ advertisers began to pull out of his show one by one until CBS cancelled the show altogether.

Barriers to Head Coach Positions

Intersectionality, a term that was coined by Crenshaw (1991), describes how race and gender interact. The intersection of racism and sexism in collegiate basketball creates barriers for Black women with leadership aspirations. In a study conducted by Borland & Bruening in 2009, Black female assistant basketball coaches cited access discrimination, lack of support, and prevalent stereotypes as barriers to head coach positions in the NCAA. The racist ideology that whites are smarter, more ethical, and generally better leaders than their Black counterparts is perpetuated in sport (Cunningham, 2010). Even when Black coaches, administrators, and support staff are hired, they often perceive their role as the “token” person of colour, which places an unnecessary weight on these individuals (Bernhard, 2014; Larsen, 2016). To address issues of power, there needs to be commitment for diversity and inclusion at all levels of leadership. Athletic directors have been generally found to lack desire to contact, interview, and hire minorities for coaching and administrative positions (Williams, 2011). Moreover, the 2008 Racial Report Card revealed that Black women represent only 2% of athletic director or assistant athletic director positions at the Division I level of the NCAA (Williams, 2011). Demographic data collected by the NCAA revealed that although 50% of athletes in Division I women’s basketball are Black, Black females account for only 11% of head coach positions (Borland & Bruening, 2009). In comparison, white females account for 54% and 43% of head coaches and athletes, respectively (Borland & Bruening, 2009). Increasing mentorship opportunities and development programs for young Black women can help eradicate barriers to access (Borland & Bruening, 2009). During C. Vivian Stringer’s time as a head coach, she was known to share responsibilities and provide opportunities for her assistant coaches (Williams & Quarterman, 2008). Mentors like Stringer are required to enhance the career advancement of Black women in the coaching profession.

“Working for Coach Stringer, as a Black woman, she exposed me to a lot of aspects of the game: budget, fundraising, and player development. So, my experience as an assistant really prepared me to be a head coach because she gave me so much freedom and flexibility to work.”    

Coach Freeman

Importance of Black Female Head Coaches

The responsibilities of a head coach extend far beyond just winning games; they play a critical role in an athlete’s growth both on and off the court. Many student athletes look to their coaches for help with their academic, personal, leadership, moral, and career development (Williams & Quarterman, 2008). Standing at the intersection of multiple identities, Black female student-athletes face a unique set of challenges. In 2014, Bernhard conducted an in-depth case study that examined the experiences of Black female athletes on a Division I women’s basketball team at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Common themes that appeared in interviews include feelings of isolation and desire for support for their non-athlete identities. The lack of diversity at PWIs can present many challenges for Black student-athletes as they transition to college (Bernhard, 2014). Athletes in the study explained that having a Black coach is extremely important because there are certain things only Black people can relate to and their presence alone provides a sense of comfort and security (Bernhard, 2014). The study concluded that having more than one Black coach, administrator, and support staff in the athletic department is critical for the recruitment and retention of Black student athletes (Bernhard, 2014).

Looking to the Future

C. Vivian Stringer’s impact as a coach and mentor speaks to the importance of addressing the underrepresentation of Black women in leadership positions in sport. To alleviate the challenges and barriers Black women experience in careers in collegiate athletics, Williams (2011) outlined five strategies.

  1. Foster a commitment to diversity and intentional effort among athletic directors
  2. Promote African American females to head coaching and administrative positions within their athletics departments
  3. Provide internal professional development programs for current African American female staff
  4. Promote use of external professional development programs offered by the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Office
  5. Work collaboratively with the Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA), Women’s Basketball Coaching Association (WBCA), and the Black Women in Sport Foundation

More effort on behalf of NCAA leadership is needed to make the basketball court an equitable place for all. It is necessary for athletic directors to break the habit of hiring white males in place of qualified females and minorities because racial justice will only be achieved when power imbalances are addressed.

References

Bailey, M. (2016). Misogynoir in medical media: On Caster Semenya and R. Kelly. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, 2(2), 1-31.

Bernhard, L. M. (2014). “Nowhere for me to go:” Black female student-athlete experiences on a predominantly white campus. Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, 8(2), 67-76. https://doi.org/10.1179/1935739714Z.00000000019

Borland, J. F., Bruening, J. E. (2010). Navigating barriers: A qualitative examination of the under-representation of Black females as head coaches in collegiate basketball. Sport Management Review, 13(4), 407-420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2010.05.002

Carter-Francique, A. R., Richardson, F. M. (2016). Controlling media, controlling access: The role of sport media on Black women’s sport participation. Race, Gender & Class, 23(1), 7-33.

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039

Cunningham, G. B. (2010). Understanding the under-representation of African American coaches: A multilevel perspective. Sport Management Review, 13(4), 395-406.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2009.07.006

Larsen, L. K. (2016). “I haven’t worked to be a token:” A narrative inquiry of the experiences of eight Black female assistant coaches in NCAA Division I women’s basketball [Doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee]. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3714/

McDowell, J., Carter-Francique, A. (2017). An intersectional analysis of the workplace experiences of African American female athletic directors. Sex Roles, 77, 393-408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0730-y

Razack, S., Joseph, J. (2021). Misogynoir in women’s sport media: Race, nation, and diaspora in the representation of Naomi Osaka. Media, Culture & Society, 43(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443720960919

Williams, V., Quarterman, J. (2008). How leadership development and positive mentorship of an African American female head basketball coach have had an impact in the lives of her players, assistant coaches, and peers, Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, 2(1), 69-92. https://doi.org/10.1179/ssa.2008.2.1.69

Williams, V. A. (2011). Diversity in sport: The status of African American female head coaches and administrators in college athletics. Diversity in Higher Education, 10, 19-40. doi:10.1108/S1479-3644(2011)0000010006