Rutgers Pays Top Dollar To Land Iowa’s Coach For Women’s Basketball

Rutgers made C. Vivian Stringer one of the nation’s highest-paid women’s basketball coaches Friday, luring her from Iowa with a multiyear contract with a $150,000 annual base.

Major-college coaches usually earn extra money through camps and endorsements. Some reports speculated that Stringer would earn about $300,000, although Rutgers would not give a figure.

Rutgers men’s coach Bob Wenzel is reported to earn about $124,000 in base salary, with football coach Doug Graber reportedly getting about $145,000.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Rutgers athletic director Fred Gruninger said. “It’s not much of a difference. It’s whatever the market value has to bear. It’s not comparing the women’s program to the men’s program. It’s asking, ‘What does the market bear?’ “

For Gruninger and Rutgers president Francis Lawrence, the market had one outstanding name - Stringer’s - when Theresa Grentz left Rutgers after 19 seasons for Illinois on May 15.

Stringer is 520-135 over 23 seasons, with her .794 winning percentage fourth among active coaches. She arrived at Iowa in 1983 and raised the Hawkeyes from the bottom of the Big Ten to the top of the national polls in just five years. Her 12-year record at Iowa was 269-84 (.762) and included 10 straight 20-win seasons, nine NCAA Tournament berths, six conference championships and a Final Four appearance in 1993.