CHARLESTON, S.C. Director of Athletics Les Robinson, the only person in NCAA history to serve as head basketball coach and director of athletics at three Division I institutions and who has been at The Citadel in his current position for the past seven years, has announced his retirement, thus concluding a spectacular coaching and administrative career that began in 1960 as a basketball player at North Carolina State University.

Robinson, a native of St. Albans, W.Va., said that he will retire on June 30, 2008.  However, he will be retained as a consultant for the new director of athletics and will assist as an ambassador.

A virtual Who's Who in intercollegiate athletics and one of the region's most sought-after speakers, Robinson served as head basketball coach and later director of athletics at The Citadel, East Tennessee State and North Carolina State. 
 
“It has been a wonderful time and a tremendous amount of fun,” said Robinson of his career.  “I have often pinched myself because I have lived a life that many dream about, but the best part of this ride has been the great number of people I've met along the way.”

“It is impossible to measure the impact Les Robinson has had on our athletics program and on the entire Citadel family,” said Lt. General John Rosa (USAF, ret.), president of The Citadel.  “As one of the most highly respected people in college athletics today, Les has consistently championed the highest ideals in college athletics and brought out the best in our student-athletes, our coaches and all others he has mentored.  The Citadel is lucky to be the place where he will finish his outstanding career and it has been my privilege to have Les on my team.”

In 2007, Robinson was recognized as the AstroTurf Southeast Region's Director of Athletics of the Year at the annual NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) Convention in Orlando, Fla.  The previous year he was recognized with a “Lifetime Honorary Alumnus” citation from The Citadel Alumni Association.

He served as the Bulldogs' basketball coach from 1974-85, having spent the five previous seasons as an assistant coach, and became The Citadel's AD on Sept. 1, 2000.

During his tenure as director of athletics at the Military College of South Carolina, the school witnessed the opening of the Altman Athletic Center at Johnson Hagood Stadium, the Inouye Marksmanship Center, the Maybank Triplets Football Practice Field at Willson Field Complex and the addition to McAlister Field House for women's athletics.  He hired the school's first senior woman administrator, took measures to revamp totally the department's weight room, led the college into a 10-year marketing relationship with Daktronics, and is personally spearheading the revitalization of Johnson Hagood Stadium, which opened the West Side Grandstands in 2006.

The football facility is expected to unveil Phase III (of four) in the fall of 2008.  To help with that, Robinson donated $100,000 for the project, marking the college's single largest donation ever by an employee.  He also issued a challenge for others to match his donation which has resulted, thus far, in nearly an extra million dollars for the stadium.  Robinson also brought in more than $5 million in guarantees for playing games against teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A).

The Citadel, under Robinson's guidance, has hosted the Southern Conference cross-country championships, the first two rounds of the women's basketball championships, the men and women's tennis championships and the baseball tournament.

A 1965 graduate of N.C. State, Robinson served five years as a Bulldog assistant coach under Dick Campbell and George Hill, and eventually spent 11 seasons as The Citadel's head basketball coach from 1974-85.  He directed the 1978-79 and 1984-85 teams to 20 and 18 victories, respectively, marking the two most successful seasons in Citadel basketball history. Another highlight of his coaching career came when the Cadets won 23 consecutive home games.  For those efforts, Robinson was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 1979 and was tabbed South Carolina's Coach of the Year in 1979 and 1985.

Following his tenure at The Citadel, Robinson became the head basketball coach at East Tennessee State, where he coached the Buccaneers for five years increasing their win total (7-14-20-27) each year.  He resurrected the ETSU program that won just seven games in 1987 to its finest run of basketball and athletics successes in school history.

He guided the Buccaneers to two NCAA Tournament appearances (1989 and 1990), a pair of Southern Conference Tournament championships (1989 and 1990) and was named Southern Conference and Tennessee Coach of the Year following the 1990 campaign.  The Buccaneers also produced record levels of departmental revenue while he served the dual role of head basketball coach and athletics director.

In 2006, ETSU inducted him into their Athletic Hall of Fame after receiving an honorary alumnus citation in 1997.

Robinson remains the only coach in Southern Conference men's basketball history to earn league coach of the year honors at two different schools, and he ranks fifth on the conference's list of basketball wins.

Robinson returned to Raleigh and his alma mater prior to the 1990-91 basketball campaign to coach the Wolfpack and replace Jim Valvano.  Robinson promptly guided N.C. State to a 20-11 record and a NCAA Tournament appearance while earning the NABC's District Coach of the Year honor in his first season atop the Wolfpack program. 

He became the first coach in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) to win 20 regular-season games, one game in the ACC Tournament and one game in the NCAA Tournament in their first season (North Carolina's Bill Guthridge became the second).

His Wolfpack teams also enjoyed commendable academic success during the decade while graduation rates and grade point averages increased and the academic qualifications of incoming freshmen improved.  Robinson recruited and coached a Phi Beta Kappa player (Todd Fuller) who later became a NBA lottery pick.  He also posted the best career winning percentage against North Carolina of any ACC coach during his tenure.

As director of athletics at N.C. State from 1996-2000, Robinson oversaw a department with an operating budget of $25 million and sent 11 teams to postseason play.  During his final year, the department witnessed a $1.1 million surplus.

In addition, the cumulative grade point average of athletes at the ACC institution exceeded that of the general student body.  Robinson and the N.C State family also witnessed the opening of the Entertainment and Sports Arena, a 19,700-seat facility that serves as the home of the Wolfpack men's basketball program and the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League.

As an undergraduate at N.C. State, Robinson served as team captain and led the Wolfpack freshman basketball squad in scoring in 1961 while playing for legendary coach Everett Case.  He earned two varsity letters with the Wolfpack in 1963 and 1964, spent the 1965 season as a student assistant coach and was promoted to graduate assistant status in 1966.

He departed N.C. State after the 1966 season to coach at Cedar Key High School in Cedar Key, Fla. where he went 41-9 in two seasons.  Robinson then made a one-season assistant coaching stop at Western Carolina where he earned his master's degree before joining The Citadel's coaching staff prior to the 1969-70 campaign.

Robinson spent six years serving on the prestigious NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, one of the NCAA's most influential committees. The committee is responsible for site selection for each round of the NCAA Division I men's basketball championships.  Additionally, it chooses the at-large teams that compete in the field of 65, and makes many important decisions regarding the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  He was involved with the NCAA's contract with CBS that pays $6 billion for the rights to televise “March Madness.”

As a coach, Robinson also served a pair of stints with USA Basketball as head coach of the South squad in the 1995 Olympic Festival in San Antonio, Texas and as an assistant coach to Bobby Cremins at the 1989 World Qualifying Games in Mexico City.  He also guided an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) All-Star Team on a European Tour in 1993.

He also has accumulated a lengthy list of former basketball assistants and administrators who have become head coaches and directors of athletics.

Robinson is married to the former Barbara Simon of St. Albans, W.Va.  The Robinsons, who have maintained a home on Sullivan's Island since coaching at The Citadel, have four children and eight grandchildren.

Les Robinson Year-By-Year

Former Assistant Basketball Coaches Under Robinson Who Became Head Coaches
• Eddie Biedenbach (Davidson & UNC Asheville)
• Greg Blatt (Presbyterian & Western Carolina)
• Ed Conroy (Francis Marion & The Citadel)
• Butch Estes (Presbyterian & Furman)
• Richard Johnson (Wofford)
• Brian Lane (Transylvania)
• Ben Ledbetter (Tennessee Tech)
• Alan LeForce (East Tennessee State & Coastal Carolina [women])
• Randy Nesbit (The Citadel & Roane State)
• Buzz Peterson (Appalachian State, Tulsa, Tennessee & Coastal Carolina)
• Barclay Radebaugh (Charleston Southern)

Current Athletics Directors Who Worked Under/With Robinson
• Charlie Cobb (Appalachian State)
• Joe Hull (College of Charleston)
• Eric Hyman (VMI, Miami [OH], TCU & South Carolina)
• Richard Johnson (Wofford)
• Mark LaBarbera (Valparaiso)
• Jim Miller (Richmond)
• Dave Mullins (East Tennessee State)

Former Athletics Directors Who Worked Under Robinson
• Jeff Compher (Western Carolina)
• Dr. Janice Shelton (East Tennessee State)

Others, Including Ties to the NBA
• Chris Corchiani (NC State player)
• Greg Dennis (ETSU player)
• Todd Fuller (NC State player)
• Tom Gugliotta (NC State player)
• Dave Hanners (NY Knicks Assistant coach; Robinson assistant coach at ETSU)
• Keith “Mister” Jennings (ETSU player)
• Pete Maravich (Family friend and mentor)
• Rodney Monroe (NC State player)
• Mike Montgomery (coached with Robinson at The Citadel)
• Rick Swing (The Citadel player; second Citadel player ever drafted by NBA after Gary Daniels)
• Calvin Talford (ETSU player)
• Kevin Thompson (NC State player)