Oregon State Coach/First Brother-In-Law Craig Robinson Speaks At DNC, Courts Potential Recruits

by Glenn Davis | 10:13 am, September 5th, 2012

Normally, schools – especially public schools – might be uneasy with as prominent a figure as their head basketball coach taking a public political stand. When your head coach’s sister is the First Lady, though, they can’t really help it. And so last night at the Democratic National Convention, Oregon State head basketball coach/Michelle Obama’s sister Craig Robinson got up on stage and gave a speech, just like he did in 2008.

This time, Robinson was joined by Maya Soetoro-ng, Barack Obama’s sister, and they both addressed the crowd, praising their respective siblings – exactly what you’d expect, in other words. Pretty standard stuff – well, except for the part where Robinson made a mini-recruiting pitch at the beginning:

Hey, can’t blame Robinson for taking advantage of every opportunity he can get. He’s coming off his best record in his four seasons at historically-weak OSU (21-15), but his Beavers squads have yet to produce a winning record in conference play, let alone come anywhere near the NCAA tournament. (In fairness to him, Oregon State hasn’t made the NCAAs in 22 years, a drought known to Rutgers fans like myself as “the only thing that makes us feel better.”)

Put another way: Robinson inherited a mess four years ago, and while things have gotten better under his watch, they’re certainly still not great, and now he finds himself at a crossroads, and if a breakthrough doesn’t come soon, his job might be in jeopardy. If only he had a family member who could empathize with that kind of situation.

[The Dagger]

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