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LANCASTER, PA - Franklin & Marshall College head men's basketball coach Glenn Robinson is featured in the February 13 edition of USA Today. A 1967 graduate of West Chester University, Robinson can reset the NCAA Division III basketball wins record on Saturday versus Muhlenberg College as he tied former Illinois Wesleyan coach Dennie Bridges at 666 with an 88-44 win over Dickinson College in Mayser on February 11. Robinson, who improved his career record to 666-234 with the victory, is 12th among all active NCAA coaches in victories and has already surpassed legendary UCLA coach John Wooden (664-112) for 25th on the all-time NCAA wins list. Historically, Robinson guided the Diplomats to the Division III Final Four in 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. But coaching plaques do not tell the story of Robinson's career. Rather, consider that every men's basketball class that has graduated from Franklin & Marshall College since 1975 has shared two unusual points of excellence: each won a conference title and earned an NCAA tournament bid. "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," Robinson noted. Currently, he holds the ninth best winning percentage in NCAA history 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), Duke's Mike Krzyewski (.745), Northern State's Don Meyer (.743), Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (.743) and Arizona's Lute Olson (.741). The most successful active NCAA Division III coach in the nation, he has guided the team to an 18-3 record, 13-1 in Centennial Conference play, as the Diplomats are ranked #18 in the latest D3hoops.com Division III national poll. "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." A 2004 inductee to the West Chester University Sports Hall of Fame, Robinson grew up in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, and played high school basketball at nearby Aldan Lansdowne High before attending West Chester. At WCU, he was a standout collegiate baseball and basketball player before graduating in 1967 and earning a masters degree a year later. He joined the F&M basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach in 1968 under Hall of Fame coach and athletic trainer Chuck Taylor. In the fall of 1971, he took over the Diplomats' varsity program when Taylor resigned to focus on his athletic training responsibilities. But Robinson's road to NCAA history did not look realistic in the beginning. 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 Diplomats improved to 11-13, the eighth straight losing season in program history as the Diplomats last finished .500 or better in in 1962-62 when the squad notched a 10-9 record. Finally, in 1974, Robinson and the Diplomats broke through for a 13-11 mark, the team's best record since a 13-6 performance in 1959. In 1976, Robinson reset the school win record with a 17-8 record. However, the record did not stand for long as he broke it again in 1977 with 22, 1979 with 27, 1991 with 28 and 1996 with 29 victories. Part of his success has been the personnel with which he has had to work as Will Lasky (1991 honorable mention, 1992 first team), Donnie Marsh (1977 & 1979 second team), Jeremiah Henry (1996 first team), Dave Jannetta (1994 honorable mention, 1995 third team), Brad Markey (1989 second team), Dennis Westley (1981 second team), Terry Scott (1988 third team), Phil Hoeker (1989 honorable mention), Chris Finch (1991 & 1992 honorable mention), Charlie Detz (1994 & 1995 honorable mention), Mike Mehaffey (1996 honorable mention) 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 Coach Robinson's system." Unlike most Division I schools, which 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. "We have always had guys who dedicate themselves to basketball. Academics is the number one priority at a school like this, but these people also dedicate themselves to doing the best they can out on the court. When you have that combination - intelligent people working hard at something - usually the results are pretty good," noted Robinson. Individually, there are still other records and milestones for Robinson to chase over the next couple of years as he still trails for the longest tenure and number of games coached in Division IIII as Bridges coached 986 games in a 36-year career. However, the question as he approaches basketball immortality is still unanswered: What does the NCAA Division III wins record mean to Glenn Robinson? "This isn't a coaching milestone, it's one for all the people that have come through here. I haven't scored a point. I was fortunate to become a head coach so young and super-fortunate to get the players that started us moving in the right direction. I will be very proud when it happens." The USA Today story can be accessed at
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2004-02-12-divisioniii-record-for-wins_x.htm
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