Robinson Leaves Brown To Coach Oregon State

Fresh off a season in which it went 19-10 overall, 11-3 in the Ivy League, finished second in league standings behind Cornell, and earned its fourth-ever postseason berth, the Brown’s men’s basketball program is at a loss. Its head coach of two years, Craig Robinson, has stepped down from his position and accepted a job to coach at Oregon State next season.

Robinson was very successful at Brown, as he won 30 games in his first two years, more than any other head coach in the same span of time in the Bears’ history. In his first season, the Bears went 11-18 overall and 6-8 in the Ivy League, finishing fifth. The crowning achievement of that season was a double-digit victory over city rival and Big East member Providence College.

This season, Robinson led Brown to successes that had never been achieved in the history of Brown’s basketball program. The Bears won 19 games, eclipsing the old school record of 17 wins in a season. Four of those wins came against Penn and Princeton, as Brown swept each of those teams for the first time in school history. The Bears were selected to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, where they fell to Ohio in the first round.

The 2008 Rhode Island Division I Coach of the Year will leave the Ivy League for a major conference next year, as he switches coasts to take the helm of a struggling Oregon State program.

The 2007-8 season was not kind to the Beavers, as they finished with a record of 6-25 and were winless (0-18) in Pac-10 play. Robinson will inherit a team that is currently on a 21-game losing streak, as the Beavers’ last win came against Northern Colorado on Dec. 19, 2007.

Robinson takes over the position from Jay John, who was relieved of his coaching duties on Jan. 20 after the Beavers’ eighth consecutive loss, which came at the hands of the University of Washington. After that, associate head coach Kevin Mouton was named the interim head coach but was unable to lead the Beavers to a victory in any of their remaining 13 games.

Robinson will be the 20th head coach in the history of Oregon State’s basketball program, and Brown will commence the search for his successor immediately.