Freeman Earns Vivian Stringer Award
7/29/2002 10:31:59 AM | Women's Basketball
CHICAGO, Ill. - Syracuse women's basketball coach Marianna Freeman received the Vivian Stringer Female Coach of the Year Award from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition at the organization's annual convention in Chicago on July 23. Freeman guided the 2001-02 Orangewomen to an 18-13 record and the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 1988.
The 2001-02 season was the most successful during her tenure at Syracuse. It was the first winning season for the Orangewomen since 1989-90. Syracuse’s winning conference record (9-7) was also its first since the ‘87-88 team went 13-3. Freeman guided SU to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship, the Orangewomen’s first semifinal appearance since 1988. SU also became only the second seventh seed in tournament history to advance to the semifinals. The Orangewomen placed both Jaime James and Julie McBride on the All-BIG EAST Third-Team.
This was the third coach of the year honor for Freeman. She was also named the Black Coaches Association Female Coach of the Year and the Basketball Coaches Association of New York Women's Co-Coach of the Year.
The award is named after current Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer. Freeman worked as an assistant to Stringer at Iowa for 10 years, and also played for Stringer at Cheyney State University.
