The second full-time head coach in Rutgers women's basketball history, Stringer served at the helm of the Scarlet Knights from 1995 until her retirement in the spring of 2022. During that span, Stringer won 535 games with the Scarlet Knights while qualifying for 17 NCAA Tournaments, including 10 consecutively from 2003 to 2012. Stringer led Rutgers to a pair of Final Four appearances in 2000 and 2007, with the latter culminating in RU's first NCAA Championship Game. In 2000, she became the first men's or women's basketball coach to guide three different intercollegiate programs to the Final Four after playing in the first NCAA Championship Game with Cheyney State in 1982 and leading Iowa to the national semifinals in 1993.
Within three seasons at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights won 20 games and won a Big East division title. Within five years, RU rose to national prominence as the women's game exploded in popularity across the United States.
Stringer surpassed the monumental 1,000 career victory milestone in November 2018. She became the fifth NCAA Division I women's basketball coach to reach 1,000 career wins and was the first African-American coach to reach the milestone. She retired ranked fifth all-time in NCAA women's basketball history with 1,055 career victories. In 2019-20, Stringer passed the late, great Pat Summitt and became the NCAA record holder with 37 seasons of 20 or more victories. Following that season, she received the John R. Wooden Award "Legends of Coaching" honor based on character, success on the court, graduation rate of student-athletes in their basketball program, coaching philosophy, and identification with the goals of the John R. Wooden Award.
Her standard of excellence extends to Stringer's staff and student-athletes. In March 2021, Stringer was honored in the Sports Business Journal as a Leader in Diversity and Inclusive Hiring. Stringer also recruited, developed, and coached 21 student-athletes who would be selected in the WNBA Draft, along with others who played professionally overseas.
Stringer has served the game of basketball as an administrator and an international coach. An assistant coach for the gold-medal 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, her first USA Basketball experience came as an assistant for the bronze-medal 1980 USA Jones Cup Team. Stringer was one of the key players in the development of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Stringer served on the Board of Directors of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund in 2007. The Fund's mission is to raise money for scientific research, serve the underserved and unite people in the fight against all cancers affecting women.
In addition to her Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2009 and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement in 2001, Stringer entered another elite club with a 2020 induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame alongside Eli Manning, Rick Barry, Ed Harris, and Anne Hathaway.
