ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Head men’s basketball coach Paul Weir has finalized his staff as he has announced the addition of Jerome Robinson, and that he will retain current Associate Head Coach Chris Harriman.
Robinson joins the Lobos from St. Bonaventure in New York. He was an assistant coach for the Bonnies since 2014. During his time with the Bonnies, he helped the team capture a share of their first Atlantic 10 regular season title and a school record 14 A-10 wins.
Prior to St Bonaventure, Robinson worked at Eastern Michigan for three seasons (2011-14) under head coach Rob Murphy. He was the Director of Player Development and Video Coordinator in the 2013-14 season and was also the Life Skills Coordinator in his first two seasons with the Eagles.
During his time with the Eagles, they reached the second round of the College Insider Tournament (CIT) and record 22 wins which were the most by an EMU team since 1996-97 and fourth most in school history. That year, the Eagles led all Division I teams in defensive field goal percentage.
The Toronto native was a standout player in high school, college and professionally. The 6-foot-4 guard was chosen as one of the top five players in Ontario as a high school senior at Westwood Secondary School.
He played at Bradley University and was a First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection as a senior after averaging 17 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He was also named the MVC Defensive Player of the Year that same season. Robinson was a two-year captain for the Braves and graduated in 2002 with a degree in elementary education.
Robinson went on to play professionally in France, Belgium and Austria. He earned all-league honors and was named the All-Austrian Bundesliga Defensive Player of the Year twice in his career. He also was a member of the Canadian National Team for three years and was selected to represent Canada in the World University Games in 1999.
Harriman will be in his third season with the Lobos. He joined the Lobos in April of 2015 and helps oversee all aspects of the program, including scheduling, recruiting and player development.
“I am really excited about this staff,” said Weir. “They all have great energy and great commitment to their craft. I am really looking forward to working with them.”
Harriman joined the Lobos after spending the previous three seasons as an assistant coach with the Nebraska Cornhuskers under Tim Miles. Harriman has also been a part of coaching staffs at Saint Louis and Nova Southeastern prior to his time at Nebraska.
The Sydney, Australia native helped guide the Cornhuskers’ Terran Petteway, Shavon Shields and Dylan Talley into All-Big Ten selections in his three seasons in Lincoln. Petteway led the conference in scoring in 2013-14 and became the first Cornhusker to earn a league scoring title in six decades. NU also made the NCAA Tournament that same season for the first time in 15 years.
Harriman was an assistant coach under the late Rick Majerus at Saint Louis from 2008 to 2012 during the era of the Billikens’ resurgence with a pair of 20-win seasons. He assumed head coach duties at SLU for one game after Majerus was hospitalized and led the team to a 75-60 win over Duquesne. During his final season at SLU, the Billikens ranked in the top 25 in the NCAA in scoring defense, scoring margin, turnover margin and turnovers per game. They would go on to earn a NCAA Tournament berth where they would defeat Memphis in the first round.
Known as a strong recruiter, Harriman has landed numerous key international recruits from Australia and New Zealand in Rob Loe, Christian Salecich and Cody Ellis. He was the lead recruiter for four of SLU’s seven top scorers of the 2011-12 season.
He began his coaching career at Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. where he spent four seasons as an assistant. The Sharks tallied 48 wins in those four years. The 2005-06 NSU team finished with 17 wins, which marked the largest single-season NCAA Division II turnaround in 15 years.