|
LANCASTER, PA - Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball coach Glenn Robinson has been named the 2004 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division III Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. The award marks the eighth time in 33 years he has been named the NABC Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year following honors in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1995. The honor caps a season in which Robinson shattered the Division III career wins mark, led his team to the Centennial Conference regular season and tournament championships, earned the program's 19th berth in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight while amassing a mark of 26-4. Selected as a "Team to Watch" in the 2003-04 edition of Street & Smith's College Basketball, an annual dedicated to highlighting the upcoming college basketball season, the Diplomats captured the Centennial Conference Championship and an NCAA berth courtesy a 69-58 win over Johns Hopkins in the Mayser Center. The tournament berth marked the 19th in the history of men's basketball at the College as the team earned NCAA bids in 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986-1996, 1999 and 2000, including appearances in four Final Fours (1979, 1991, 1996, 2000). F&M, which knocked off Hampden-Sydney 78-76 in the round of 32, defeated Gwynedd Mercy (92-72 W) in the "Sweet 16", but fell to Amherst 82-70 in the "Elite Eight" to conclude the season among the top eight teams in the nation. Overall, the team's record marked the 19th 20-win season under Robinson as the team's 26-4 record marked the program's best mark and highest winning percentage (.867) since the 1996 team concluded the year 29-3 (.906) in the NCAA "Final Four". A 1967 graduate of West Chester University, Robinson reset the NCAA Division III basketball wins record on February 14 versus Muhlenberg at home in the Mayser Center with a 75-52 win to surpass former Illinois Wesleyan coach Dennie Bridges and record his 667th career win. Robinson, who now stands at 674-235 over his 33 year career at F&M, 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 now earned conference and NABC "Coach of the Year" honors 12 times. Currently, he holds the eighth 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) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (.743). "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 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.
|
