UTC Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance Rob Robinson
photo by UTC Sports Information
“Rob is absolutely awesome and has been easy to work with. He has an open door policy and wants to do whatever it takes to help coaches from paper work to recruiting. He knows his stuff.”
-- UTC receivers coach Will Healy on Mocs new compliance director Rob Robinson
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga receivers coach Will Healy has a new boss.
Don’t Panic I – Russ Huesman is still the Mocs head football coach.
Mocs wrestling coach Heath Eslinger, men’s golf coach Mark Guhne and the other head coaches also have a new boss.
Don’t Panic II – UTC athletics director David Blackburn still occupies the “oval office” on the McKenzie Arena fourth floor and has not journeyed back up I-75 to Big Brother in Knoxville.
“The boss” is new assistant athletics director for compliance is Rob Robinson who was hired last month after working at the U.
of Oklahoma the previous 15 months.
The Lookout Mountain native and graduate of Lookout Mountain School (1997), Baylor School (2004) and U. of Tennessee (2008) not only holds a law degree from Knoxville, but also has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in a short amount of time.
“Having worked such a high profile university as Oklahoma in a big time conference, Rob has made so many contacts across the country and knows what schools are doing in the areas of compliance and recruiting all over the country,” said Healy who also serves as the football program’s recruiting coordinator.
Robinson and his staff monitor all recruiting activities in the UTC 17-sport program along with providing rules education and interpretations for coaching and athletic staff members. His office also tracks initial eligibility, financial aid and roster management for all student-athletes.
“I was impressed that Rob had amassed such a great quality of NCAA Division I Compliance experience from his internship at Tennessee and his work at Oklahoma in such a short amount of time,” said Laura Herron, UTC senior women’s administrator and former interim athletics director. “His experience coupled with his law degree and the fact that he was a Chattanooga native made him a great fit for UTC as our Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance.”
A three-sport athlete at Baylor, Robinson sees his role as one of helping coaches in all aspects of the recruiting process and maintaining control of the mission of the university.
“It is important for me to build a trust factor with our coaches and help them anyway we can, yet knowing that at times I will have to make tough decisions and say no,” Robinson stated.
Whether it is interpreting the vast amount of NCAA rules to dealing with the ever-growing and changing world of social media, Robinson and his staff are in place to assist and support the coaches in furthering a positive image for the university as current and future student-athletes and their parents see the “Power C” as a symbol of consistency, control and caring.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
william.branton@com