Oregon State has fired Craig Robinson as its basketball coach after six lackluster years on the bench, according to various reports. The firing of Robinson, the older brother of First Lady Michelle Obama, comes over a month after the team’s last game of the season, and after it had failed to make the NCAA tournament yet again.
Robinson’s tenure as a college coach has been far from impressive. Prior to coaching at OSU, he coached two years at Brown University from 2006 to 2008, where he barely broke .500 by going 30–28; in his second year, the team qualified for the College Basketball Invitational, the NCAA’s third-tier tournament.
The following season, he was hired to coach at OSU. During his time in Corvallis, the Beavers went 93–104 with a .469 win percentage. In conference play, the team fared even worse with a .362 win percentage, going 30 games under .500 at 39–69. Robinson failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament or NIT, and played in the CBI four of the six years (the team was bounced in the first round this year by Radford University).
While a coach, Robinson was no stranger to the campaign trail. In 2008, he helped campaign for his brother-in-law’s presidential campaign across the country, appearing and speaking at events for then-Senator Obama. At the 2008 Democratic Convention, Robinson introduced his sister before her speech.
Robinson had three years remaining on his contract, and will receive $4 million as a result of the buyout.