Craig Robinson

Reports: OSU finds new basketball coach

After dismal season, Beavers hope Robinson can 'Rally the Legend'

By: Daniel White

Posted: 4/7/08

The search for Oregon State’s next men’s basketball coach is over, apparently.

Multiple reports have former Brown University head coach Craig Robinson coming to Corvallis.

Robinson has just two years of Division-I head coaching experience under his belt, of which he has compiled a record of 30 wins and 28 losses. Robinson went 11-18 in his first year at Brown and went 19-10 this past season, including an 11-3 record in Ivy League play.

Robinson has Ivy League ties. During his time as a player, he was the two-time Ivy League Player of the Year at Princeton, from which he graduated in 1983.

The reported hire may be a questionable one at the moment. More prominent and experienced coaches who have shown interest in the OSU job — such as Ken Bone of Portland State, Larry Eustachy of Southern Mississippi and Ron Hunter of IUPUI — either did not fit the suit for the OSU athletic department, or in Eustachy’s case, reportedly were not even interviewed.

A big push for Eustachy had recently circulated among online forums for OSU basketball followers.

Eustachy, who brought his Iowa State Cyclones team to the Elite 8 in 2000, likely had the best coaching resume out of all the coaching names being kicked around for the OSU job. While at Iowa State, Eustachy led the Cyclones to two NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT bid in his last season. He was named the Big-12 Conference Coach of the Year twice, in 2000 and 2001, both years in which ISU won the conference. Eustachy was also named the AP National Coach of the Year in 2000 and has a career coaching record of 320-208.

Given that, it may come as a surprise to some that the Beavers would not even give Eustachy an interview, but instead hired a two-year-tested coach from the Ivy League with a lifetime record of 30-28.

Multiple online sources have reported the hire, including CBS Sports and Fox, but the Oregon State athletic department has not yet confirmed it.

More so than his basketball coaching career, Robinson may be best known for being the brother of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle.

Oregon State is expected to confirm the hire within the next day or two.

Craig Robinison Profile

Two-time Ivy League player of Year at princeton (1982-1983)
Led princeton to second round of ncaa tournament as player in 1983
Drafted by philadelphia 76ers in fourth round of 1983 nba draft
Did not coach basketball from 1992-1999 until he became head coach at University of chicago High school
Six-year assistant at Northwestern prior to landing job at brown
Guided brown to 11-18 record in first season as head coach, went 19-10 this past season and finished second place in the ivy league conference
Named ivy league coach of the year by basketball u after first season at Brown university

Kye Johnson, sports editor
sports@dailybarometer.com