Women’s College Basketball Coach C. Vivian Stringer Profiled in CBS Documentary

C. Vivian Stringer
C. Vivian Stringer coaches Rutgers in 2020. (Image credit: Benjamin Solomon/Getty Images)

In the midst of its March Madness men’s college basketball tournament coverage, CBS on March 25 will air a documentary chronicling the career of legendary women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer.

The Coaches Plus Media-produced documentary, Dear Coach Stringer, will profile the Naismith Memorial Basketball and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach, beginning with her first head coaching position at Cheyney State (now Cheyney University) where she led the first and only HBCU team to the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Overall Stringer is the first coach in men’s or women’s basketball history to lead three different schools to the Final Four — Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers, said Coaches Plus Media.

The documentary, which will also stream on Paramount Plus, will feature interviews with Stringer’s family, friends, former players and coaches, along with letters of appreciation and thanks that she has received over her illustrious career. 

“C. Vivian Stringer is a giant in our game,” Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Executive Director Danielle Donehew said in a statement. “We can measure her many achievements and successes, but we will never be able to fully quantify what she means as a role model and inspiration to so many coaches who have followed in her footsteps.” 

Dear Coach Stringer follows CBS’s airing of Think. See.Do. – The Legacy of Pete Carril, which looks at the life and career of the legendary Princeton University coach. Both documentaries are produced by the Coaches Plus Media production company. ■

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.