Craig Robinson, the brother of former first lady Michelle Obama, has found a new job in the basketball world. The former coach was hired on Monday to be the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He replaces Jim Haney who is retiring from the position after 29 years. Robinson leaves his position with the New York Knicks as he was the team’s vice president of player development and minor league operations.
“Craig encompasses everything we were looking for and more in the next leader of the NABC,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon, the current NABC president, said via ESPN. Dixon also stated what Robinson accomplished during his basketball career “uniquely position him to lead our association during this crucial moment in time for basketball. Given his background, education and values, we have exceeded expectations from when we started the search.”
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NABC has been a big part of basketball over the years. Founded in 1927 by then-Kansas coach Phog Allen, the NABC helped influence the rules and other issues with the game. It also established the original National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, “laid the groundwork for the current NCAA tournaments; and established the College Basketball Experience and National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.”
“Clearly, Craig is coming to the organization at a time of great uncertainty and change, and nearly 5,000 members of this organization will rely on him to represent the best interests of coaches at all levels as we move into the future,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. Because of Robinson’s connections with college and pro basketball, Krzyzewski also said Robinson “will help us generate more synergy between those two entities that have such a profound impact on the sport.”
Robinson, 58, played basketball at Princeton from 1979-1983. He moved on to the business world before joining the coaching ranks in 1999. Robinson was an assistant coach at Northwestern for six years before becoming the head coach at Brown in 2006. He coached at Brown from two seasons and posted a 30-28 record. In 2008, Robinson was hired to be the head coach at Oregon State and was there for six seasons. In 2016, Robinson entered the NBA ranks with the Milwaukee Bucks hiring him to be the team’s vice president of player and organization development. He was hired by the Knicks in 2017.
