Barack Obama's Brother-In-Law Hired as Oregon State head coach?

by Jake on Apr 6, 2008 8:17 PM PDT in Basketball

You've gotta be kidding, right?

Well, I'm not.

After all the twists and turns this coaching search has taken over the last few months, it looks like Bobby D has finally settled on Craig Robinson, head coach at Brown University. Both Fox Sports and CBS Sports have confirmed the hire, although nothing has been said out of the OSU Athletic office.

And it just so happens that Craig Robinson's sister is married to Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, making Robinson Obama's brother-in-law.

Robinson led Brown University to an 19-10 mark and an 11-3 Ivy League record this past season, his second with the school.

Again, it's not official yet, but it looks like we may have a new head coach coming to Corvallis.

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--

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Wow, that's definately a surprise

He sounds like a great coach, and hopefully he can put us back on the map.

by beavswin on Apr 6, 2008 8:45 PM PDT 0 recs

Big Surprise

I don't recall hearing his name mentioned in the search before.

Does anyone else know if he was really mentioned/considered before these past few days?

Could be that he was mentioned, and I overlooked it with all of the talk of the higher profiled coaches.

Civil War Sports .::. www.CivilWarSports.com

by Civil War Sports on Apr 6, 2008 9:02 PM PDT 0 recs

Today was the first time I've heard his name

--JB--

by Jake on Apr 6, 2008 10:22 PM PDT up 0 recs

I didn't hear about this guy either...

I think this could end up turning out pretty well for OSU.

Robinson runs a variation of the Princeton offense. The Princeton offense is just the type of offense the Beavers need to become competitive again. It's the type of offense that quickly evens out the playing field. It relies a lot less on players creating their own shots (which requires talented, athletic players), and a lot more on precision and execution (which requires teamwork and practice). The latter you can teach, the former not so much. OSU players are clearly a notch below the rest of the Pac-10 in terms of talent, but this type of game-plan will enable them win a game here or there that they otherwise wouldn't have won.

That said, this could obviously take a while. As I said, this type of offense requires lots and lots of practice. The offense requires players to make reads on their own as to where to cut/pass/etc... The first half of the season (or maybe the whole season) could be pretty ugly. It will take time for 1) the existing players to learn the offense and 2) Robinson to get his own type of players to be successful. (Here's a website on the Princeton offense: http://www.cybersportsusa.com/hooptactics/princetonoffense.asp )

I'm not really sure which of our players will be successful in this type of system, but off the top of my head it seems like Omari Johnson could thrive in this type of offense. He's pretty athletic and handles the ball fairly well for a big guy.

Beyond that, success in college basketball is probably most closely related to how well you recruit (shocking, I know). Recruiting kids to come to OSU is a little different than recruiting for an Ivy league school, I imagine. I don't think anyone will be able to predict how successful Robinson will be able to recruit.

Overall, I think this could end up being a pretty good hire. I think hiring Bone from PSU would have been a little too safe. Whatever happens, it's going to take time and patience

by funk on Apr 7, 2008 10:13 AM PDT 0 recs

New Men's hoops coach

Okay to start here's what the schools web site and official press release states:

"Corvallis - Oregon State University Director of Athletics Bob De Carolis is asking "Beaver Nation" to turn out for Monday's welcoming press conference for the new men's basketball coach at Oregon State University.

The formal introduction will take place at 4 p.m. in legendary Gill Coliseum. The introduction will also be covered live on Beaver Nation Online (free), KPAM 860 in the Portland metropolitan area and KEJO 1240 in the mid-Willamette Valley."

First, am I the only one who notices that the name of the new coach is missing?? If you're going to make an announcement about the hiring of a new head coach, shouldn't their name be a part of the press release, thus bringing attention to the program and saying, "hey, look what we did"??

Second, while I agree with some of what has been written (good points funk), I just wonder how this is better than Jay John or Kevin Mouton? It also makes me wonder how relevant the program is in the eyes of the athletic department. Believe me I want better days for the sport, however is this how far the program has fallen, an unknown 2nd year ivy league coach?

Interesting. Here's one time I agree with Canzano, 75K out the door.

Go Beavs!!

by calripken08 on Apr 7, 2008 11:44 AM PDT 0 recs

I'd usually agree that it was a waste of money...

If OSU had just hired Bennett, Bone, or Grier, this would have been a huge waste of money. Anybody with half a brain could have come up with that list.

But if you're going to pay 75K, isn't Robinson the type of person you want to find? The not-so-obvious candidate that no one, including Bobby D., would have thought of on their own? (Still don't think you should spend that type of money.)

I guess the question is, is this a desperation hire made after De Carolis couldn't get anyone else, or is this a well though out, thinking outside the box type of move? If Bone would have taken the job, it might be a little more towards the later, but if this was done because Bone had turned the job down then it reeks of desperation.

By the way, as a new Beaver fan, I was wondering what you all think of the job De Carolis has done overall?

As for not putting the NAME OF THE HEAD COACH in the press release? Uh, yeah...

by funk on Apr 7, 2008 2:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

Robinson can coach

Brown was picked 5th in the preseason media polls (out of 8) and finished 2nd in league play at 11-3, with 2 of their losses coming to undefeated conference champions Cornell (my alma mater and a team that gave Duke a very good game at Cameron this year but admittedly played scared against the Lopez twins and co. in the tournament). Robinson got a lot out of a team that had mediocre talent and turned a decent player in Mark McAndrew into the Ivy League's top scorer and a consensus 1st team all conference player.

Robinson's offense is a more free flowing variant of the Princeton offense and is very tough to prepare for. Don't be shocked if a less talented OSU club pulls a couple stunners next year.

Robinson's task is monumental- a 9th place finish next year should earn him Pac-10 C.O.Y. and merit consideration for national awards- the OSU talent is just not there right now.

It is unprecedented for an Ivy League coach to make the jump to a major conference so quickly and without a league title (Penn's Fran Dunphy only got the Temple job after 17 years and numerous titles) but Robinson had very little to work with at Brown and the Ivy League has produced a number of excellent coaches, including Chuck Daly and Pete Carill. Good luck to Robinson in Corvallis.

by jksnake99 on Apr 7, 2008 2:02 PM PDT 0 recs