The new Big Man on Campus

Craig Robinson did a better job coaching this season than any other coach in America. Not even an arguable matter in my mind. When you look at the collective program as a whole; Robinson did more for his University men's basketball team than any man in Division-1.

And he wasn't even named Coach of the Year in the Pac-10.

It doesn't surprise me, necessarily, that Robinson wasn't given the post season honor; but it does solidify in my mind that as long as your the winner, awards will be given to you regardless of your oppositions merits.

Lorenzo Romar from Washington won the award; and Washington (his team), won the Pac-10 regular season title. Normally I would have no problem with the first place coach winning the award, especially since UW hasn't won an outright Pac-10 title in a long time.

But when you take into consideration the entire body of work coaches have done in the past 365 days, nothing compares to what Robinson did at OSU.

Romar is 143-80 in his career at Washington. He has reached the NCAA tournament four times including this season, and has finished first or second in the conference four out of the seven seasons he has been at UW.

In that same time span Romar has been at Washington, the Oregon State program has had one NON-LOSING season. And hasn't reached the NCAA tournament since 1990. Yes, that's right, 1990.

On top of that, OSU set a Pac-10 record for most conference losses just one season ago, losing all 18 regular season Pac-10 games; the 2007-2008 Beavers are the only team in Pac-10 history to accomplish this feat.

Enter Robinson during the off-season, and he takes over a young team that endured a humiliating season the year before, and the only two players from last year left, and they happened to be the two most gifted players OSU had in center C.J. Giles and star wing-man Marcel Jones.

But Robinson reshaped the way OSU basketball was viewed in such a few short months. He picked up a Pac-1o victory in the opening weekend of conference play with an overtime victory against USC (NCAA Tournament-bound), and wound up leading the Beavs to seven conference wins, while finishing nowhere near last place.

If that weren't enough, Robinson hit the recruiting trail as hard, if not harder than any coach in the conference, inking five players before the official signing period ended, and will bring in what many scouting services believe to be a top-25 recruiting class in the nation.

If winning more games from one year to the next warrants the theory for winning Coach of the Year, Robinson and Romar tie, each winning 7 more games with his team than the previous year.

But lets not forget, Romar has been at Washington for seven season; most of which have been very successful seasons. All of the players on his team are guys he recruited and guys he knows fit his system.

Robinson took over arguably the worst major-conference team in America, with no guys he recruited, and the same core group of players that set a dubious Pac-10 record the year before and made them competitive. Also leading them to a College Basketball Invitation bid, only the second post-season the Beavers have had since 1990.

If winning is the tell-all story, then Romar wins. But he's won before, he's proven that his program is a mainstay. Robinson, did the unthinkable. No one would have called you an idiot for predicting a Pac-10 title for Washington at the beginning of the season. Many would have called you one for predicting Oregon State would win seven games with a new coach in a tough conference with the same players that lost every game they played the year before, while still managing to bring in the best recruiting class in the Pac-10.

Coach Robinson, you got jobbed. But I'm sure you're not bothered; because that's another thing about you we will all learn to love if we haven't already: You're a classy guy.

And that's just one more reason to give him C.O.Y. honors in my mind.

If I had a vote, Robinson wins Pac-10 Coach of the Year with ease, but that's okay. Somewhere deep inside me I get the feeling he'll have a few more chances to bring that one home.