Hes More Than Just The Presidents Brother In Law

He’s more famous for being the brother in-law of the leader of the free world than being a great college basketball coach, but Craig Robinson has done as good a job as any college hoops coach in the nation.  He took on a job at Oregon State that seemed hopeless.  They were 0-18 in the Pac-10 last season and are currently 7-9. Robinson played at Princeton in the 80′s and was a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year.  He’s a Pete Carril disciple and his Oregon State team runs a similar offense to those great Princeton teams.  Robinson will be a hot coaching prospect across the country and it will be interesting to see how long he lasts at Oregon State.  Whether he stays there or not, there’s no doubt in my mind that he will become one of the best recruiters in the country.  Robinson, the president’s brother in-law, sitting in a living room with a recruit and their family will be a pretty powerful recruiting tool. Craig Robinson joined Mason and Ireland on ESPN LA on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming games with UCLA and USC.

Did you think your guys would get it as quickly as they have?

“I have to be completely honest, we overshot our expectations by a long way.  Having watched the tapes of the team last year, which we did and I know the league isn’t quite as good as it has been in the past, we thought that if we could get two wins out of this season we’d be doing our jobs and if we were really lucky we can get a third.”

On Barack Obama saying there should be a playoff in college football:

“You guys are really trying to get me in trouble.  I stick by my president.”

On playing UCLA for a second time (they were blown out in the first game):

“We are not the same team we were when they first saw us so hopefully that will help us out.  In the same vain, they are not the same team.  We’ve got to keep the game close in order to have a chance to win.  We have to play almost a perfect game to win.”

On if he’ll have President Obama call recruits on his behalf:

(joking, sort of) “I think the President has the right to call any citizen that he feels like calling any time he wants.  I haven’t had to use him yet, but I think I ought to petition the NCAA to see what the ruling will be on that before I do it.