Craig Robinson Presides Over the Oregon State Beavers' Resurgence

Two-time Ivy League Player of the Year.  Successful bond trader.  The First Brother-in-Law to President Barack Obama.  One of the hottest NCAA coaching names in the country. What more can you add to the resume?

Oregon State Craig Robinson intends to add Pac-10 Champions to that list this coming season, as he readies his Beavers to build on the success they’ve had in his first two seasons in Corvallis.

Robinson has revitalized an Oregon State basketball program that was dead on arrival.  A 6-25 finish and an 0-18 run in the 2008 Pac-10 season left the coach with little to work with, but he instilled his philosophy and beliefs in the team he inherited. 

As a result, the Beavers bounced back strong and won the 2009 Coaches Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournament.  Robinson put in his bid as Pac-10 Coach of the Year, and while he didn’t win it, was largely in the discussion for his work.

With quite an extensive basketball background, Robinson builds on his past experiences in the game and incorporates his philosophy with his teams.  A star player at Chicago’s Mt. Carmel High School during the late 1970s, he was offered basketball scholarships to play at Purdue, Washington, and Princeton.

He ultimately chose Princeton, at the advice of his father, due to their academic prestige.  While playing for the Tigers under coaching legend Pete Carril, the 6’6” Robinson was Ivy League Player of the Year in 1983 and ’84.  He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth round of the NBA Draft, but opted to play overseas for a couple seasons in the British Professional League.

After his playing days were done, he assistant coached for the Illinois Institute of Technology for a couple seasons.  Shortly after, he returned to school to get his MBA in Business and Finance from the University of Chicago.  For the better part of the ‘90’s, he enjoyed a great deal of success as a bond trader.

He still did some scouting for Princeton during his time in the corporate world and coached a year at a Chicago high school. However, after going through a divorce and discovering that finance was losing its luster, he decided to switch gears into coaching. In 1999, Robinson was extended an assistant coaching opportunity at Northwestern University, which he accepted.

Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody is known around coaching circles as a Princeton offense expert, and was an assistant at Princeton when Carril was running the scheme at full throttle. 

In a nutshell, The Princeton offense puts an emphasis on slowing down the pace of play and drastically increasing player motion in half court sets.  Using constant movement of players without the ball, the idea is to create a mismatch for a player to exploit and get an easy, high percentage basket.

It sets the guards and forwards outside the arc, and a center at the top of the key.  Using a high number of passes per possession, with two- and three-man plays, it's intended to open up passing lanes and set up cutters heading backdoor to the basket for an easy lay-in. If the defense crowds the lane, then shooters should be open for an attempt from distance. 

With Carmody as an authority of the Princeton offense, Robinson again familiarized himself with the Princeton system for six years in Evanston.  After his stint as a successful recruiter and assistant for the Wildcats, he left to become head coach for the Brown University Brown Bears of the Ivy League.

Running his own adaptation of the Princeton offense, he quickly became a hot coaching name after leading Brown to second in the league in only his second year.  Shortly after the end of the 2008 season, Oregon State pounced on the opportunity to add him as head coach.

Coming into the 2008-09 season, expectations for Beaver basketball were low. Any success Robinson could have in turning the team around was gravy to the ailing program. It just so happened that his first year would create much rejoicing again in the grass seed capital of the world.  With an optimistic turnaround to 18-18 in 2009, Robinson looked like a coaching genius.

He imposed tough love on his team, sought to strengthen their weaknesses, and emphasized a greater work ethic.  The defensive intensity was upped using a 1-3-1 zone, which makes the opposition’s offensive game look more like ‘keep away’ than basketball.  It’s an effective counter to teams with better athleticism and scoring.

By slowing down the game and taking away possessions, you can keep the game in reach by managing it and capitalizing on your opportunities.  That's the strength of the Princeton offense.  Georgetown coach John Thompson III demonstrated that the Princeton offense could be executed all the way to the Final Four, which he did in 2007.

The defensive tenacity and pressure of the 1-3-1 zone produced a Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in Seth Tarver.  Averaging 2.2 steals a game by pressuring guards bringing the ball up and playing passing lanes, the zone allowed Tarver to use his length and athleticism to poach on the mistakes of the opposition.  Tarver was the first Oregon State player since Gary Payton in 1990 to lead the Pac-10 in steals.

The 2010 season wasn’t nearly as successful as the previous year, despite finishing 5th in the Pac-10.  The low point was a 48-99 loss to Seattle University at Gill Coliseum.  The 51-point loss was the worst in program history, and a defeat that would challenge any team's confidence.

However, Oregon State rebounded to beat Oregon, at a raucous Mac Court on its farewell tour, and Arizona at home.  The season had its ups and downs with a 14-18 record, and ended in a disappointing, early loss in the CBI to Boston University on their bid to repeat as tournament champions.

Beaver fans should feel encouraged by their coach’s grip on the team and the direction of the program.  With his contract locking him up until 2016, he should stay in Corvallis despite the chatter and constant coaching movement in the NCAA landscape. 

His name will continue to be thrown out as a hot name to succeed a program of greater basketball stature and tradition, but Robinson’s loyalty should please Beaver fans to the same degree as beloved football coach Mike Riley by staying put.

Program security, coaching philosophy, and political connections have produced in recruiting efforts as well.  This year, Oregon State has talent on their roster and some proven playmakers to garner some wins, along with a promising freshman forward in Devon Collier.  The Beavers also have a solid verbal commitment from four-star forward Daniel Gomis from vaunted Oak Hill Academy. 

As OSU’s stock continues to rise on the hardwood, so does Robinson’s.  Michelle Obama’s older brother is more than just a famous family member, he’s a coaching figure to be reckoned with.  He can tell a person’s character by playing basketball with them, as he did with Barack, and it seems he was a good judge of character on that one.

If he can continue to bring in the right players to develop and run the Princeton offense, the Beavs could end up becoming a regular at the top of the Pac-10 standings.