Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd announced today (Sept. 2) that Steve Robinson, a former head coach and long-time assistant coach at the Division I level, has been named an assistant coach for the Wildcats. Robinson won three national championships as an assistant coach at North Carolina, where has spent the last 18 seasons as Roy Williams top assistant.
“We are very fortunate to be able to add a coach to our staff with the pedigree of Steve Robinson,” Lloyd said. “He is a first-class individual and knows the ins and outs of championship-level basketball, having won three National titles and made eight appearances in the Final Four. That experience will be an invaluable asset to our team and our program. We look forward to welcoming Coach Robinson and his wife, Lisa, to Tucson and the Arizona Basketball family.”
In his 31 seasons as a head coach or assistant coach at the Division I level, he has been to the NCAA Tournament 27 times. He’s won three national championships in eight Final Four appearance and claimed 15 conference regular season titles in addition to five conference tournament crowns.
“I want to thank Coach Lloyd for this opportunity to join his staff at a place with the history and tradition like the University of Arizona,” Robinson said. “We have gotten to know each other over the years, and I know relationships are very important to him, so I can’t wait to start building those relationships on and off the court with the rest of the staff and the young men in this program.”
On four occasions during his time with the Tar Heels, Robinson was named one of the top-25 recruiters in college basketball and one of the top five high-major assistant coaches in college basketball.
Robinson served as Williams’ top assistant coach with the Tar Heels, where he was heavily involved in recruiting, scout and in-game strategy while working with the perimeter players. He counts Harrison Barnes, Danny Green, Marvin Williams, Brendan Wright and Paul Pierce as recruits that he helped bring to Chapel Hill and Lawrence.
He helped mentor Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson and Kendall Marshall, all of whom won the Cousy Award for the top point guard in the country in addition to 2017 Final Four MVP Joel Berry II.
Robinson got his start in coaching as an assistant coach at Radford, his alma mater, for three seasons (1984-86) and then two seasons (1986-88) at Cornell. Prior to the 1988-89 season, he was named an assistant coach at Kansas under Roy Williams, a position he would hold for seven seasons before being named the head coach at Tulsa.
In his two seasons with the Golden Hurricanes, he went 46-18, won a conference championship in his first season and made two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Following the two years at Tulsa, he was named head coach at Florida State and led the Seminoles for five seasons (1997-2002). His overall record as a head coach is 110-104 in seven seasons.
He returned to Kansas as Williams’ assistant in 2002-03 before Williams was named the head coach at North Carolina prior to the 2003-04 season and brought Robinson along with him to Chapel Hill.
The Roanoke, Virginia native was inducted into the A Step Up Assistant Coach Hall of Fame in 2019, the same Hall of Fame that current Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd was inducted into in May 2021.
A graduate of William Fleming High School in Roanoke, he went on to play two seasons at Ferrum Junior College. He continued his collegiate career at Radford, where he was the team captain in 1979 and 1980 before earning his bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education in 1981. He received his master’s degree in counseling from Radford in 1985.
Robinson has since been inducted into the Hall of Fame at William Fleming High School, Ferrum Junior College and Radford University.
Along with his wife, Lisa, they have four children – daughters Shauna and Kiaya and sons Tarron and Denzel. Tarron and his wife, Kathryn, have a daughter, Chloe and Denzel played two seasons for the Tar Heels before graduating in 2014.
