Craig Robinson, brother in law of Barack Obama, succeeds Jim Haney as NABC’s director
Craig Robinson, an NBA administrator and former college head coach, has been named the new executive director of the Kansas City-based National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Robinson will replace Jim Haney, who has held the position for 29 years.
Since 2017, Robinson has served as the New York Knicks’ vice president of player development and mino league operations, and is general manager of the Westchester Knicks of the G League. He held a similar position with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2016-17.
Robinson was head coach at Oregon State from 2008-14 after spending two years as Brown’s head coach. He served as an assistant coach at Northwestern and was a two-time Ivy League player of the year at Princeton.
In the 1990s, Robinson worked in finance as an executive at Continental Bank, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Loop Capital Markets.
Robinson said he saw this job as an extension of his life experiences.
“When you think about my playing and coaching career, career in corporate America, my time as an administrator, taken all together I felt uniquely qualified for this position,” Robinson said.
Robinson’s sister is Michelle Obama. He gave speeches on behalf of Barack Obama throughout the 2008 presidential campaign. Robinson introduced his sister at the Democratic National Convention that year.
Haney will remain executive director of the NABC Foundation until September, 2021, when Robinson will officially succeed him.
The NABC office moved to Overland Park when Haney became executive director in 1992. In 2004, the office moved to downtown Kansas City. The organization was the driving force behind the creation of the College Basketball Experience and National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, which opened in 2007 next door to the then-Sprint Center, which was recently renamed T-Mobile Center.
Robinson said it was too early to suggest a move from Kansas City. Nine of the 12 NABC employees work in Kansas City.
The NABC was founded in 1927 by legendary Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Phog Allen.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Craig Robinson, brother in law of Barack Obama, succeeds Jim Haney as NABC’s director."