Basketball assistant aided women's gold rush

By ANN GREEN

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Vivian Stringer picked a good time to come back from a 13-year hiatus from USA basketball.

Head coach at Rutgers and assistant coach of the U.S. Olympic team, she celebrated as the American women won gold Saturday afternoon in Olympic Indoor Hall.

Members of the coaching staff don't get medals when their team wins.

But Stringer quoted a line from Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor, the head coach of the USA women's team.

``He said the medal is in our hearts, although it would be nice to have one. I dreamed of the Olympics as a fifth- and sixth-grader. To see these young ladies who worked hard and are so deserving, it has come full circle for me.''

There are three assistant coaches on the U.S. team including Stringer, Seattle Storm coach Anne Donovan and Duke coach Gail Goestenkors.

Stringer has worked with five previous USA basketball coaching staffs, fitting the time around her college coaching duties. She has 32 years of college coaching experience with a 695-239 record and is the fourth winningest coach in women's basketball.

Four years ago, she became the only coach to guide three different programs to the NCAA Final Four - at Cheyney State University in Pennsylvania in 1982, at the University of Iowa in 1993 and at Rutgers in 2000.

She said Saturday was no time to glory in the fact that the U.S. women won gold to continue their domination in the Olympics while the U.S. men's team faltered.

``They're a great group of guys who haven't had a lot of time to play together,'' Stringer said. ``They'd be the first ones to be supportive of us in our success. It's sad we didn't bring home the gold together.''