UCF men’s basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins has announced Robbie Laing, who was previously an assistant at Florida Atlantic for two seasons, as his new assistant coach, rounding out his staff. Dawkins also announced that he will retain Ricardo Greer as the Director of Player Development.
“Robbie brings a lot of coaching experience to our program, and he has been a successful recruiter at multiple collegiate levels,” said Dawkins. “He has strong ties at the junior college level, and I believe his knowledge and skills will be a good fit and complement our staff.”
Laing has more than 30 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level, including 13 as a head coach.
Prior to his stint at FAU, he was the head coach at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, for 10 seasons. Laing’s most successful season came in 2009-10 when he guided the Camels to an Atlantic Sun Conference regular season title, winning a school record 19 games. He was tabbed the league’s Coach of the Year that season along with being recognized as the District 3 Coach of the Year by the National Basketball Coaches Association. The following season, Laing and the Camels were ranked in the mid-major college top-25 poll for the first time in school history.
During his career, Laing has been an assistant coach at a number of Division I programs, including Kansas State (2000-03), Southern Mississippi (1999-00), Auburn (1994-96), Clemson (1993-94), Georgia Southern (1984-86, 1987-93), Western Kentucky (1986-87) and Troy (1982-84).
He got his first collegiate head coaching job in 1996 at Jones Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi, where he spent three seasons at the helm.
Laing graduated from Lakeside High School in Eufaula, Alabama, where he was a standout in basketball and football. Following high school, he went to play football at Vanderbilt for one season. He then transferred to North West Florida State to play basketball. The squad posted a 22-11 record only to see OWJC drop the program, sending Laing to Seminole State Community College, where he garnered All-America honors. Laing then transferred to Troy where he earned a degree in biology and physical education in 1982. The following year, Laing went to Georgia Southern to earn his Master’s degree in physical education.
He and his wife, Dana are parents of five children: Ansley, Christian, Earl, Madison and Nathan.
GREER RETAINED AS DIRECTOR OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
Dawkins also announced that Ricardo Greer would be retained as the Director of Player Development for the Knights. Greer joined UCF under the previous coaching staff this past September. Prior to coming to Orlando, Greer played collegiately at Pittsburgh from 1997-2001, for the Dominican Republic national team from 1999-2009, and professionally in Europe for the last 14 years.
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