Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Robinson: 'I'm open to talk'

The only person to coach men's basketball and serve as athletic director at three different Division I schools said Tuesday that he has spoken to Coastal Carolina about the opening atop its athletic department.

Les Robinson, who has served in both capacities at N.C. State, The Citadel and East Tennessee State, has interest in becoming the next athletic director at Coastal. He was contacted through intermediaries about the position but has yet to have a formal interview, he said.

Last month, Coastal's search committee narrowed a pool of 120 applicants to 12. Their names haven't been made public. Finalists are expected to be selected over the next few weeks.

Robinson has ties to Coastal's athletic department. Women's basketball coach Alan LeForce was an assistant at ETSU under Robinson for several seasons before taking over the program when Robinson left to become the head coach at N.C. State in 1990.

After serving a decade as men's basketball coach and then as athletic director at N.C. State, Robinson left for The Citadel in 2000, where he led the school's athletic department for eight years until his retirement. He maintains a home on Sullivan's Island in the Charleston area.

"I just want to stay busy if that makes sense," the 67-year-old said. "I retired from The Citadel, but I realized I've still got a lot of gas in the tank. So, I'm open to talk with people.

"I'm talking to a couple of different schools right now. Coastal is certainly something that intrigues me. I'm certainly going to listen. ... The school has tremendous potential and always has because of where it is."

Robinson said he is talking to three different schools, but would not disclose the others.

He understands that many will point to his age as a reason not to hire him.

"I would say grade me on my last three to four years at The Citadel," Robinson said.

"Obviously, that would be said. I'm aware of that. I'm in great physical shape, and have been for many, many years. ... I thought I was ready to slow down a little, and I did. But as it turns out, I'm still looking for things to do."

Another candidate, Bill D'Andrea, removed his name from consideration last week. D'Andrea, Clemson's senior associate athletic director for external affairs, said he was approached by Coastal and given the opportunity to go through the search process like all the other candidates.

D'Andrea decided to pull out of the search to avoid any potential conflicts in the lead up to last Saturday's Coastal-Clemson game.

That decision had more to do with his desire to remain at Clemson than anything else, he said.

"But it was a very attractive opportunity," he said, "to lead a program."