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LANCASTER, PA - For Franklin & Marshall College head coach, his 900th game on the Diplomats' sidelines can be a memorable one as he is set to tie the all-time mark for coaching victories in Division III on February 11 at home versus Dickinson College. A 1967 graduate of West Chester University, Robinson is in his 33rd season as head coach of the Diplomats and holds a 665-234 record. He is one win shy of equaling the mark of 666 wins held by Dennie Bridges, who coached at Illinois Wesleyan from 1966-2001. He is also 12th among all active NCAA coaches in victories and has surpassed legendary UCLA coach John Wooden (664-112) for 25th on the all-time list. The most successful active NCAA Division III coach in the nation, Robinson has guided the Diplomats to a 17-3 overall record this season, 12-1 in Centennial Conference play. Robinson, who will be inducted into the West Chester Hall of Fame on February 13, has guided the Diplomats to the Division III Final Four four times (1979, 1991, 1996 and 2000) and was named the Basketball Times Division III "Coach of the Year" in 1991. He has earned conference and National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) regional "Coach of the Year" honors 11 times. Robinson could reset the record on February 14 at home versus Muhlenberg College. The team will then continue the season at home on the 18th versus McDaniel to close out the regular season home schedule. Franklin & Marshall will then conclude the regular season slate with away games at Washington and Johns Hopkins University on February 21 and 24, respectively. Entering the 2004 season, he held the tenth best winning percentage as his mark has been bettered by only Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (.822), UCLA's John Wooden (.804), UNLV/Fresno State's Jerry Tarkanian (.784), North Carolina's Dean Smith (.776), Northern State's Don Meyer (.746), Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (.743), Arizona's Lute Olson (.742), Kansas' Phog Allen (.739) and Duke's Mike Krzyewski (.739). He grew up in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, land played high school basketball at nearby Aldan Lansdowne High before continuing his studies at West Chester University. At WCU, he played collegiate baseball and basketball for the Division II Rams before graduating in 1967 and earning a masters degree a year later. Robinson joined the F&M basketball coaching staff in 1968 under Hall of Fame coach and athletic trainer Chuck Taylor. In 1971, he took over the Diplomats' when Taylor resigned to focus on his athletic training responsibilities. His first win came on December 7, 1971 in Mayser Gymnasium, as Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team, and sporting an 0-2 record downed Western Maryland College 80-51. Unlike most Division I schools, whic
h measure graduation rate based on the percentage of four-year players who get a degree, Robinson has a different standard. During his tenure, all but one player to earn a varsity letter in basketball has earned a degree, a statistic which few, if any, other college in the nation can boast. "I think that the thing that impresses me most when I look at F&M is the kind of program that Glenn Robinson has built and maintained," said Hope College coach Glenn Van Wieren prior to facing the Diplomats in the 1996 Final Four. "He's truly one of college basketball's best coaches at any level." But Robinson's road to NCAA history did not look realistic when he took over the program from Chuck Taylor in the fall of 1971. Following a year which saw F&M finish 4-16, its seventh consecutive losing season, Robinson led the 1971-72 Diplomats to a 7-14 improvement with wins over Western Maryland, Eastern, Penn State-Harrisburg, Haverford, Juniata, Messiah and a season concluding 68-51 victory over Drexel University. In 1973 the team improved to 11-13 as Robinson struggled to rebuild the team from a streak of losing seasons which stretched back to the program's last winning season, a 10-9 record in the last year of legendary head coach S. Woodrow Sponaugle's tenure in 1962-63. Finally, in 1974, Robinson and the Diplomats broke through for a 13-11 mark, the team's most wins since a 13-6 performance under Sponaugle in 1959. 1976 found Robinson resetting the school win record with a 17-8 record, erasing the 16 win seasons of Woody Sponaugle in 1952, J. Shober Barr in 1941 and Robinson's own mark from the 1975 season. But the record would not stand for long as he broke it again in 1977 with 22, 1979 with 27, 1991 with 28 and 1996 with 29. His career win total accounts are an astonishing 60% of the total collegiate wins in Franklin & Marshall men's basketball history (1,115) since the inception of the sport in 1899-1900 under H.S. Wingert. "In terms of the program, I am most proud of our consistency. Making the NCAA tournament is not easy, especially over a long period of time. Earning a spot 18 times in 32 years is a credit to what we do and what we turn out in terms of students." Part of his success has been the personnel with which he has had to work as Will Lasky (1991 honorable mention, 1992 first team), Don Marsh (1977 & 1979 second team), Jeremiah Henry (1996 first team), Phil Hoeker (1989 honorable mention), Dave Janetta (1994 honorable mention, 1995 third team, 1995 second team), Dennis Westley (1981 second team) and Alex Kraft (2000 first team, 2001 honorable mention) all earned All-America honors under Robinson. "If you look at F&M over the years, you'll see that there's rarely a player with an average of more
than 17 points per game," noted Henry. "The best way to play basketball is for all five people on the floor to function completely as a unit. We really stress teamwork and the ability to play together and that comes through coaching and coach Robinson's system." "This isn't a coaching milestone, it's one for all the people that have come through here," Robinson said, referring to the possibility that he'll break Bridges' record. "I haven't scored a point. I was fortunate to become a head coach so young and super-fortunate to get the players that got us going in the right direction. I will be very proud if it happens."
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