SUU hires new basketball coach

CEDAR CITY - Three weeks after Roger Reid retired as Southern Utah's men's basketball's head coach, Thunderbird Athletic Director Ken Beazer wasted no time finding the eighth head coach in school history.

Beazer introduced Louisiana State assistant Nick Robinson as SUU's new men's basketball Head Coach at a packed press conference Thursday afternoon.

"It's a privilege and an honor to be the eighth men's basketball head coach here at Southern Utah," Robinson said. "I am extremely grateful and extremely excited about the opportunity to be here."

Beazer said the two sides are still negotiating on a deal, but said the deal would be roughly five years in length. The rest of the staff will be hired in the next couple of weeks, Robinson said.

Robinson, 32, recently completed his first season as an assistant at LSU and helped the Tigers to an 18-15 record, and 7-9 in Southeastern Conference play.

He interviewed for the job last week as one of the finalists for the position, and Beazer said he knew right away that Robinson would be a good fit to take over the reigns of the T-Bird program.

"What stuck out to me was his pedigree," Beazer said. "What I looked for was the Division I experience with quality coaches and he stuck out ... what stuck out was everybody I talked to said (he is a) 'quality individual, high integrity — he's going to be a superstar some day. By the time I brought him on campus — the first time I met him, when he walked through the doors of the weight room, I looked at him and thought 'this guy could be our coach.'"

Robinson said he already had the chance to meet with the team and was looking forward to meeting with them again in the next couple of weeks to plan out the offseason.

"We have a great group of guys," Robinson said. "My expectation is everyone will want to be back next season, in order to contribute to the success we're going to have. It's going to be a lot of work here in spring and in the summer, but I know they're excited for the opportunity that is ahead of them."

SUU gaurd Damon Heuir, who will enter his senior season next year, said the team is happy with the hiring.

"When he came and visited us, he really spoke well to us and knew everything about us," Heuir said. "I mean, he was really a class act. It's great that he's taking over and I'm excited for next year."

Beazer said when it came down to looking at the coaching finalists, Robinson stood out the most, even though he wasn't on Beazer's original short list of candidates.

"He has a lot of qualities I look for in a coach," he said. "He has the ability to connect with people and connect with the community ... I've been receiving emails and text messages ever since (Wednesday) afternoon from coaches all across the country, just saying 'great hire, diamond in the rough.'"

In addition to the current roster, Robinson said he plans on going out and finding the best recruits possible for the program — in Utah, in the U.S. and even abroad. He said he would like each recruit to bring a "championship attitude" to SUU.

He said he was ready to start the recruiting process as soon as possible.

"We're planning on recruiting on a national basis," he said. "We have young men on the squad that are from all over the place, right now. So, we want to make sure the staff we will have in place will be able to reach nationally ... that also includes international recruiting, we don't want to leave out our dear friends in Australia, or England, Canada, Brazil or anyone else to bring out the best and the brightest to Southern Utah."

Robinson said connecting the school with the Cedar City community was among his top goals, but the team's top goal on the court is to eventually make it back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001 and become a threat in the Big Sky Conference

"Our goal is not only to fill up the Centrum each and every night we have a home game, but we want to bring the Big Sky tournament here," Robinson said. "We want to put ourselves in a position where we are able to compete to be able to get into the March Madness NCAA Tournament on a regular basis."

While Robinson said there would be a focus off the court on becoming model citizens and graduation, Robinson said on the court, he will look to put an emphasis on defense, especially guarding the 3-point line.

"We're going to defend at a high level," he said. "We're going to be aggressive, we're going to be disciplined and we're going to be tough. In terms of exactly what we're going to do, we're going to take that too the chalk board and make sure our guys know what is expected of him."

Robinson said the team's offensive plan will flow off the defensive transition.

"Our defense is going to dictate a lot of what we do," he said. "But, we want to play as fast as possible, as long as our guys are being unselfish, making each other better and taking care of the basketball."

Robinson graduated from Stanford in 2005 and became an assistant coach for the Cardinal in 2006. Robinson took over as an executive assistant to the head coach at LSU in 2009 and was promoted to director of operations in 2010, before becoming an assistant coach for the Tigers.

Robinson was born in Salt Lake City in 1979, but grew up in Liberty, Mo. He played collegiate hoops for Stanford and went 92-34 as a player for the Cardinal.

Robinson was one of three finalists for the job and beat out former T-Bird player and Utah assistant Barret Peery for the SUU head coaching job.

A source close to the team said Peery, who had received public support from former T-Bird head coach Bill Evans, did not favor well with the SUU players.

Robinson takes over for Reid, who retired after five seasons as SUU's coach.

The T-Birds haven't had a winning season since 2006, however, Heuir said the team is in high hopes after Robinson's hiring.

"I think his enthusiasm and his will to work (made him step out as a coach)," Heuir said, with a grin on his face. "He had all of us excited for next season and all ready to go after talking to us. His enthusiasm rubs off, and hopefully we can keep that going ... if anyone's going to help us go to the Big Sky and make some waves, I think it's going to be him."

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