.gif)
Craig Robinson (basketball coach)
Encyclopedia
Craig Malcolm Robinson is an American
college basketball
coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Oregon State University
. He was previously the head coach at Brown University
. He was a star forward as a player at Princeton University
in the early 1980s and a bond trader during the 1990s.
He is the older brother of U.S. First Lady
Michelle Robinson Obama
, and the brother-in-law
of U.S. President
Barack Obama
.
, Illinois to Fraser Robinson, a city water plant employee and Democratic
precinct captain
, and Marian Robinson (née
Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. He grew up in the South Shore
community area
of Chicago, with his sister Michelle, who was 21 months younger. He learned to read
by the age of four at home, and skipped the second grade in school. He attended the parochial Mount Carmel High School
, graduating in 1979.
When he was considering what college to go to, his father insisted that he attend Princeton University
for its superior academic reputation, rather than either the University of Washington
or Purdue University
, which offered scholarships and major conference play.
Player of the Year at Princeton University
, in 1981–1982 and 1982–1983, leading the league in field goal percentage
both years. He is the fourth highest scorer in school history. He graduated in 1983 with a B.A.
in Sociology
. His senior thesis was on social stratification
in prisons. Robinson and former teammate John W. Rogers, Jr.
were among those invited to practice with Michael Jordan
as he prepared for his comeback.
Robinson was drafted in the fourth round of the 1983 NBA Draft
by the Philadelphia 76ers
, but never played in the league. He played professionally for the Manchester Giants
in the British Basketball League
for two seasons, and returned to the U.S. in 1988 to become an assistant coach at the Illinois Institute of Technology
, a position he held until 1990.
He left basketball, partly on the advice of his Princeton coach Pete Carril
. He earned an M.B.A. in Finance
from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1992.
His sister Michelle had begun dating a law firm colleague, Barack Obama
, who played basketball recreationally; she asked her brother to play with him and give her a character assessment, so that she would know whether she could become serious with him. He gave an encouraging report to her. As he later related, "When I played basketball with Barack, he was quietly confident, which means he had good self-esteem without being cocky. He was certainly a team player – he wasn't a pig, he passed when he was supposed to pass, and he cut when he was supposed to cut. To me, that speaks to a lack of selfishness. He had natural leadership ability, because he didn't just pass me the ball because he was dating my sister. Whenever a player gets tired, he reverts back to the player he truly is. That's how you tell. And we played for hours. That's how I could tell." The story of this pick-up game and of a 'test' being passed became a key part of the Obama narrative.
Robinson worked in the 1990s as a bond
trader
. He became a vice president at Continental Bank
and worked there from 1990 to 1992. He was then a vice president, from 1992 to 1999, at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
. Later he was a managing director and partner
at Loop Capital Markets, a minority-owned boutique investment banking
firm.
He kept a hand in basketball, by doing area scouting for Princeton and coaching one year at University of Chicago High School. He earned a high six-figure income in his business career, but eventually decided the financial world had lost its appeal, and found his luxury lifestyle was not enough to save his marriage. By 2000, Robinson was going through a divorce. Robinson has two children from his first marriage, a son Avery (born 1992) and daughter Leslie (born 1996). Robinson remarried in June 2006, to his wife Kelly. They became parents of a son, Austin, in 2010.
at Northwestern University
, where he was an effective recruiter. He then became a head coach at Brown University
in 2006, where he ran a variation of the Princeton offense
which he learned from Pete Carril
during his years at Princeton. In improving a mid-level basketball program, he stressed work ethic
, used tough love
, and tried to improve the players' vocabulary
. A fifth-place placing with a strong finish to the season garnered Robinson the Ivy League
men's basketball Coach of the Year for the 2006-2007 season by Basketball-U.com. The following year, the Brown Bears
finished second in the league, and their 19 wins for the season was a team record.
He assisted his brother-in-law throughout the latter's 2008 presidential campaign
, including campaigning for him during the Iowa caucuses
and campaigning and giving speeches for him in a number of other states, sometimes combining campaigning with recruiting visits. He introduced his sister Michelle before her speech on August 25, 2008, the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
, which gave him his largest national exposure. He was also on stage following Obama's victory speech in Grant Park
after his election as president on November 4, 2008.
On April 7, 2008, Robinson was hired as the Oregon State Beavers
' head basketball coach following the team's winless Pacific-10 Conference record and overall 6–25 mark the year before. (Jesse Agel
, Robinson's assistant of two years, took over Robinson's former position at Brown). Robinson acknowledged that his political connections might enhance Oregon State's recruiting efforts.
Oregon State got off to a fairly good start in Robinson's first year, starting with a 6–6 record; a January 2009 conference win over USC broke a nearly two-year Pac-10 losing streak and earned Robinson a congratulatory call from then-President-elect Obama. Robinson continued his tough love approach, tailored to strengthening each player's weaknesses. After that first win, Robinson's team won another six Pac-10 games, exceeding expectations for his first year on the job given that his personnel was essentially unchanged from the team's prior year. One key was that the offensive system he installed raised the team's collective field goal percentage
almost 10 points. Some commentators felt he was deserving of consideration for the Pac-10 Coach of the Year award, and by late February Robinson had hopes of the team getting a bid from one of the postseason tournaments. The team was indeed accepted into the 2009 College Basketball Invitational
, where it went on to post a 5–1 record and captured its first post-season tournament championship ever with a final series victory over the UTEP Miners
. Of the win, Robinson said, "I can't tell you how proud I am of these guys. ... This is a great story for anybody." The Beavers finished with an 18–18 record for the season, and had what Rivals.com
deemed a top-25 recruiting class as well.
In July 2009, President Obama alluded to the possibility of Robinson coaching elsewhere, by saying: "Craig Robinson is an outstanding coach. ... Anybody in Oregon and anybody who knows sports knows he turned it around. He loves Corvallis and I'm sure that as a young, successful coach he's going to start getting offers."
Oregon State's 2009–10 season featured an inconsistent level play in a conference dominated by parity, leading to an 8–10 regular season conference record for a tie for fifth place. They then lost in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament
. Despite the losing record, the team was invited to defend their championship at the 2010 College Basketball Invitational
, but lacked focus and energy and were beaten easily in the first round, leaving them with an overall season record of 14–18.
In March 2010, shortly before the end of the season, the university and Robinson agreed on a two-year contract extension that would keep him in place through the 2015–16 season.
In April 2010, Robinson published his memoir, A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago's Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond.
The 2010–2011 season was one of regression for Oregon State, with the team falling to a 5–13, ninth place finish in the conference and a sharply losing record overall. However Robinson professed to not being overly worried or disappointed, saying he was encouraged by the development of some of the underclassmen.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
college basketball
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
. He was previously the head coach at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
. He was a star forward as a player at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in the early 1980s and a bond trader during the 1990s.
He is the older brother of U.S. First Lady
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
Michelle Robinson Obama
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States...
, and the brother-in-law
Brother-in-law
A brother-in-law is the brother of one's spouse, the husband of one's sibling, or the husband of one's spouse's sibling.-See also:*Affinity *Sister-in-law*Brothers in Law , a 1955 British comedy novel...
of U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
Early years
Craig Robinson was born on April 21, 1962, in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois to Fraser Robinson, a city water plant employee and Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
precinct captain
Precinct captain
A precinct captain is an individual who acts as the direct link between a political party organization and the voters in an election precinct...
, and Marian Robinson (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. He grew up in the South Shore
South Shore, Chicago
South Shore is one of 77 well-defined community areas of the City of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. A predominately black neighborhood located along Chicago's southern lakefront, it is a relatively stable and gentrifying neighborhood...
community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
of Chicago, with his sister Michelle, who was 21 months younger. He learned to read
Reading education
Reading education is the process by which individuals are taught to derive meaning from text.Government-funded scientific research on reading and reading instruction began in the U.S. in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers began publishing findings based on converging evidence from...
by the age of four at home, and skipped the second grade in school. He attended the parochial Mount Carmel High School
Mount Carmel High School (Chicago)
Mount Carmel High School is an all boys, Catholic high school in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the school has been operated by the Carmelite order of priests and brothers since 1900...
, graduating in 1979.
When he was considering what college to go to, his father insisted that he attend Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
for its superior academic reputation, rather than either the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
or Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, which offered scholarships and major conference play.
Playing career
Robinson, who stands 6' 6" and played at forward, was a two-time Ivy LeagueIvy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
Player of the Year at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, in 1981–1982 and 1982–1983, leading the league in field goal percentage
Field goal percentage
Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Three-point field goals are included in this percentage. Instead of using scales of 0 to 100%, the scale .000 to 1.000 is commonly used. A higher field goal percentage denotes...
both years. He is the fourth highest scorer in school history. He graduated in 1983 with a B.A.
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. His senior thesis was on social stratification
Social stratification
In sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...
in prisons. Robinson and former teammate John W. Rogers, Jr.
John W. Rogers, Jr.
John Washington Rogers, Jr. is an investment manager who founded Ariel Capital Management , which is the United States' largest minority-run mutual fund firm, in 1983. He is chairman and CEO of the company. He served as the Board President of the Chicago Park District for six years in the 1990s...
were among those invited to practice with Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
as he prepared for his comeback.
Robinson was drafted in the fourth round of the 1983 NBA Draft
1983 NBA Draft
The 1983 NBA Draft took place on June 28, 1983 in New York City. A total of 226 players were selected over 10 rounds by the league's 23 teams. At least three players from the 1983 draft now serve as coaches...
by the Philadelphia 76ers
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...
, but never played in the league. He played professionally for the Manchester Giants
Manchester Giants
Manchester Giants was a team in the British Basketball League from 1990 to 2001.During its existence, the team won the Trophy in 1999 and the BBL Championship in 2000. The tenure of coach Nick Nurse, which included these two seasons, was the most successful period in the club's history...
in the British Basketball League
British Basketball League
The British Basketball League, often abbreviated to the BBL, is the premier men's professional basketball league in the United Kingdom. The BBL runs two knockout competitions alongside the league championship; the BBL Cup and the BBL Trophy....
for two seasons, and returned to the U.S. in 1988 to become an assistant coach at the Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...
, a position he held until 1990.
Business career, marriage and family
Pete Carril
Peter J. "Pete" Carril is a former collegiate head coach and former NBA assistant with the Sacramento Kings.-Early years:...
. He earned an M.B.A. in Finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1992.
His sister Michelle had begun dating a law firm colleague, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, who played basketball recreationally; she asked her brother to play with him and give her a character assessment, so that she would know whether she could become serious with him. He gave an encouraging report to her. As he later related, "When I played basketball with Barack, he was quietly confident, which means he had good self-esteem without being cocky. He was certainly a team player – he wasn't a pig, he passed when he was supposed to pass, and he cut when he was supposed to cut. To me, that speaks to a lack of selfishness. He had natural leadership ability, because he didn't just pass me the ball because he was dating my sister. Whenever a player gets tired, he reverts back to the player he truly is. That's how you tell. And we played for hours. That's how I could tell." The story of this pick-up game and of a 'test' being passed became a key part of the Obama narrative.
Robinson worked in the 1990s as a bond
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
trader
Trader (finance)
A trader is someone in finance who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities and derivatives. A broker who simply fills buy or sell orders is not a trader, as they are merely executing instructions given to them. According to the Wall Street Journal in 2004, a managing...
. He became a vice president at Continental Bank
Continental Bank
Continental Bank was a bank in China. It specialized in savings, warehouses, trusts and real estate business. It was founded in Tianjin in 1919 by Mr. Feng Guozhang, the acting president of Republic of China and Mr. Tan Lisun, the former Nanjing director of Bank of China. Half-month later, a...
and worked there from 1990 to 1992. He was then a vice president, from 1992 to 1999, at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
. Later he was a managing director and partner
Partner (business rank)
A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position. Originally, these businesses were set up as legal partnerships in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits of the enterprise. The name has remained even though many of these...
at Loop Capital Markets, a minority-owned boutique investment banking
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
firm.
He kept a hand in basketball, by doing area scouting for Princeton and coaching one year at University of Chicago High School. He earned a high six-figure income in his business career, but eventually decided the financial world had lost its appeal, and found his luxury lifestyle was not enough to save his marriage. By 2000, Robinson was going through a divorce. Robinson has two children from his first marriage, a son Avery (born 1992) and daughter Leslie (born 1996). Robinson remarried in June 2006, to his wife Kelly. They became parents of a son, Austin, in 2010.
Coaching career
Robinson returned to coaching in 1999, making one-tenth his former salary. He was an assistant for six years to Bill CarmodyBill Carmody
Bill Carmody is an American men's college basketball coach.Since 2000, he has been the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.-Early life and education:...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where he was an effective recruiter. He then became a head coach at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 2006, where he ran a variation of the Princeton offense
Princeton offense
The Princeton offense is an offensive basketball strategy which emphasizes constant motion, passing, back-door cuts, and disciplined teamwork. It was used and perfected at Princeton University by Pete Carril, though its roots may be traced back to Franklin “Cappy” Cappon, who coached Princeton...
which he learned from Pete Carril
Pete Carril
Peter J. "Pete" Carril is a former collegiate head coach and former NBA assistant with the Sacramento Kings.-Early years:...
during his years at Princeton. In improving a mid-level basketball program, he stressed work ethic
Work ethic
Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...
, used tough love
Tough love
Tough love is an expression used when someone treats another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run. The phrase was evidently coined by Bill Milliken when he wrote the book Tough Love in 1968 and has been used by numerous authors since then.In most uses, there must...
, and tried to improve the players' vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
. A fifth-place placing with a strong finish to the season garnered Robinson the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
men's basketball Coach of the Year for the 2006-2007 season by Basketball-U.com. The following year, the Brown Bears
Brown Bears
The Brown Bears is a name shared by all sports teams at Brown University, a university located in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. The Bears are part of the Ivy League conference. Brown's mascot is Bruno. Both the men's and women's teams share the name, competing in 37 National...
finished second in the league, and their 19 wins for the season was a team record.
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
, including campaigning for him during the Iowa caucuses
Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008
The Iowa Democratic Presidential Caucus occurred on January 3, 2008, and was the state caucuses of the Iowa Democratic Party. It was the first election for the Democrats of the 2008 presidential election. Also referred to as "the First in the Nation Caucus," it was the first election of the primary...
and campaigning and giving speeches for him in a number of other states, sometimes combining campaigning with recruiting visits. He introduced his sister Michelle before her speech on August 25, 2008, the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
, which gave him his largest national exposure. He was also on stage following Obama's victory speech in Grant Park
Grant Park (Chicago)
Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
after his election as president on November 4, 2008.
On April 7, 2008, Robinson was hired as the Oregon State Beavers
Oregon State Beavers
The Oregon State Beavers is a name shared by all sports teams at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers are part of the Pacific-12 Conference . Oregon State's mascot is Benny the Beaver...
' head basketball coach following the team's winless Pacific-10 Conference record and overall 6–25 mark the year before. (Jesse Agel
Jesse Agel
Jesse Agel is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Brown University. He replaced Craig Robinson.Agel first came to Brown after a 17-year stint as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Vermont....
, Robinson's assistant of two years, took over Robinson's former position at Brown). Robinson acknowledged that his political connections might enhance Oregon State's recruiting efforts.
Oregon State got off to a fairly good start in Robinson's first year, starting with a 6–6 record; a January 2009 conference win over USC broke a nearly two-year Pac-10 losing streak and earned Robinson a congratulatory call from then-President-elect Obama. Robinson continued his tough love approach, tailored to strengthening each player's weaknesses. After that first win, Robinson's team won another six Pac-10 games, exceeding expectations for his first year on the job given that his personnel was essentially unchanged from the team's prior year. One key was that the offensive system he installed raised the team's collective field goal percentage
Field goal percentage
Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Three-point field goals are included in this percentage. Instead of using scales of 0 to 100%, the scale .000 to 1.000 is commonly used. A higher field goal percentage denotes...
almost 10 points. Some commentators felt he was deserving of consideration for the Pac-10 Coach of the Year award, and by late February Robinson had hopes of the team getting a bid from one of the postseason tournaments. The team was indeed accepted into the 2009 College Basketball Invitational
2009 College Basketball Invitational
The 2009 College Basketball Invitational was a single-elimination tournament of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams that did not participate in the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament or the 2009 National Invitation Tournament. The opening round began...
, where it went on to post a 5–1 record and captured its first post-season tournament championship ever with a final series victory over the UTEP Miners
UTEP Miners men's basketball
The UTEP Miners basketball team is an NCAA Division I men's college basketball team competing in the Conference USA. Home games are played at Don Haskins Center, located on University of Texas at El Paso's campus in El Paso.-Don Haskins Center:...
. Of the win, Robinson said, "I can't tell you how proud I am of these guys. ... This is a great story for anybody." The Beavers finished with an 18–18 record for the season, and had what Rivals.com
Rivals.com
Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting. The network was started in 1996 and currently employs more than 300 personnel.-Schools:The individual collegiate sites can be found...
deemed a top-25 recruiting class as well.
In July 2009, President Obama alluded to the possibility of Robinson coaching elsewhere, by saying: "Craig Robinson is an outstanding coach. ... Anybody in Oregon and anybody who knows sports knows he turned it around. He loves Corvallis and I'm sure that as a young, successful coach he's going to start getting offers."
Oregon State's 2009–10 season featured an inconsistent level play in a conference dominated by parity, leading to an 8–10 regular season conference record for a tie for fifth place. They then lost in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament
Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The Pacific-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, known since 2003 under sponsorship agreements as the Pacific Life Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Tournament, and otherwise known as the Pac-12 Tournament, is the annual concluding tournament for the NCAA college basketball in the Pacific-12...
. Despite the losing record, the team was invited to defend their championship at the 2010 College Basketball Invitational
2010 College Basketball Invitational
The 2010 College Basketball Invitational is a single-elimination tournament of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams that did not participate in the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament or the 2010 National Invitation Tournament. The opening round began Tuesday,...
, but lacked focus and energy and were beaten easily in the first round, leaving them with an overall season record of 14–18.
In March 2010, shortly before the end of the season, the university and Robinson agreed on a two-year contract extension that would keep him in place through the 2015–16 season.
In April 2010, Robinson published his memoir, A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago's Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond.
The 2010–2011 season was one of regression for Oregon State, with the team falling to a 5–13, ninth place finish in the conference and a sharply losing record overall. However Robinson professed to not being overly worried or disappointed, saying he was encouraged by the development of some of the underclassmen.