Craig Robinson Position: Head Coach Experience: Second Year Alma Mater: Princeton, 1983

After engineering one of the nation's best single-season turnarounds in his first year at Oregon State, Craig Robinson enters his second season at the helm of the Beavers men's basketball program.

In his first season at Oregon State, Robinson helped lead a remarkable turnaround that culminated in the Beavers capturing the College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament title with a best-of-three series win over UTEP. With the championship, the Beavers captured the first postseason men's basketball title in school history.

Under Robinson, Oregon State finished the season with an 18-18 record and had one of the greatest turnarounds in the nation as the plus-12 win total from the previous year ranked No. 3 in the country. The 18 wins were the most for Oregon State since the 1989-90 season (22) as Robinson was named District IX Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

Along the way, Oregon State captured seven Pac-10 games and swept four contests from California and Stanford, marking the first time since the 1989-90 season the Beavers have swept the two schools in the same year. The seven conference wins were the most for the program since the 2004-05 season.

Several players earned all-conference and all-academic honors in Robinson's first year, led by Roeland Schaftenaar, who was named honorable mention all-league and was an academic All Pac-10 Conference selection. Calvin Haynes also earned honorable mention all-league honors as Seth Tarver was named to the honorable mention all-defensive squad.

The first year coach also saw success on the recruiting trail as the Beavers add five student-athletes for the 2009-10 school year. The class is one of the most decorated in program history and is ranked in the top 25 in the nation by several recruiting services.

Prior to joining Oregon State, Robinson spent two years as the head coach at Brown, leading a revival of the Bears program as he guided the squad to a school-record 19 victories in his final season. In his second year at Brown, Robinson led the Bears to their fourth ever post-season tournament berth, competing in the CBI. Robinson's team posted an 11-3 Ivy League mark, second best in school history, and good for second place in the conference standings. Robinson won more games (30) in his first two years than any other head coach in Brown basketball history.

Robinson made an immediate impact on the Brown basketball team in his first year at the helm of the program as he was named the Ivy League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year by BasketballU.com.

In his first season at Brown, Robinson guided the Bears to an improved 11-18 mark, 6-8 in the Ivy League, finishing fifth in the conference. He led the Bears to a stunning 51-41 victory over Providence College, limiting the Friars to 14 second-half points and 18-percent shooting from the floor in the second half (4-of-22). His Brown team also limited NCAA-bound Michigan State to 45 points, its lowest point total of the season.

Prior to Brown, Robinson worked at Northwestern, where he spent six seasons with the Wildcats under head coach Bill Carmody (former head coach at Princeton). Robinson's relationship with Carmody dates to the 1982-83 season when as a senior captain, he led Princeton to the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, Carmody's first year as an assistant coach with the Tigers.

At Northwestern, Robinson developed and implemented his local, national and international recruiting technology. He was an integral part of Northwestern's dramatic turnaround, helping the Wildcats to the most wins in a four-year period in school history at the time with 57 victories from the 2001-2002 to the 2004-2005 seasons. Robinson also helped Northwestern finish ninth in the nation in scoring defense (58.8 points per game) in 2005-2006.

A 1983 graduate of Princeton with an AB (Arts of a Bachelor degree) in Sociology, Robinson is considered one of the top players in Ivy League history. He ranks fourth on Princeton's all-time scoring list with 1,441 points and led the Ivy League in field goal percentage in 1982 (.577) and 1983 (.642).

Robinson was also the league's first two-time honoree as Ivy League Player of the Year, sharing the honor in 1982 before winning it outright in 1983. He played under legendary Princeton coach Pete Carrill, leading the Tigers to two NCAA Men's Basketball Championship appearances during his tenure (1981 and 1983). His 16 rebounds in a NCAA tournament win over Oklahoma State in 1983 rank fifth in the Ivy League record book for NCAA games.

After graduating from Princeton with a degree in sociology, Robinson was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth round of the 1983 NBA draft. He played two seasons with the Manchester (England) Giants of the European Basketball League. In addition, he served as the assistant to the general manager and public relations officer for Manchester.

Robinson began his coaching career as an assistant coach at the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1988-90. He was responsible for offense implementation, game strategy, recruiting and advance scouting. He was also the head coach at the University of Chicago High School in 1999-2000.

Robinson, who also has a MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1992), took a hiatus from coaching and went into private business in 1990. He was a Vice President for Continental Bank from 1990-92, Vice President for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter from 1992-99 and then Managing Director for Loop Capital Markets before he made his move to Northwestern.

Robinson and his wife Kelly have a son, Avery, and a daughter, Leslie.