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Robinson pulls double duty at MHS this season
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| Chad Miller/Daily Press Marmaduke coach Shane Robinson is doubling as an assistant to both the girls and boys teams this season. |
By Chad Miller
cmiller@paragoulddailypress.com
MARMADUKE — Marmaduke basketball coach Shane Robinson is pulling double duty this season. Robinson is normally an assistant to the boys coach Steve Richey. However, due to the departure of girls head coach Spencer Hoffman, Robinson has been asked to assist current girls coach Rick Smith as well this season. Although Robinson said he occasionally feels like he’s being pulled in different directions, he said he is managing to find a balance.
“It’s not really been as busy as I thought it would be,” Robinson said. “The big change is I’m going to all the girls games now. It’s probably taking up more of my time than I realize. But, I’ve enjoyed it. The school year has definitely flown by so far.”
Robinson said when Hoffman left in July, Marmaduke superintendent Tim Gardner asked if he would be interested in becoming Hoffman’s replacement. However, he said he felt Smith “deserved” the job more than he did. Robinson said since the Lady Greyhounds have no seniors this year, every player on that team has played for Smith at some point in their career. He said he would not “feel right” taking over the girls program.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be the girls coach because I think it would be a great opportunity,” Robinson said. “But, I didn’t really want to change much about what I was doing with the boys. I really liked what I was doing, but I was kind of torn. It was really a tough decision. These are kind of [Smith’s] kids and I knew he would do a good job. He has a winning record at a lot of places he’s been. He’s won a lot of ballgames and some state championships.”
However, Robinson said he also did not want to leave Smith without an assistant. He said he knew the school would have a hard time finding an assistant before the season started.
“I knew with it being late in the summer, we would have a hard time finding somebody that we really wanted or somebody who could get out of their contract,” Robinson said. “So, I just kind of volunteered and said ‘I’ll do both [teams] for one year and we can kind of open up [our search] next year.’”
Smith said Robinson as been a great help this season. He said Robinson often does a lot of defensive substitutions during ballgames.
“He [Robinson] knows a lot of times when we have a bad matchup on defense,” Smith said. “So, he does a lot of our defensive stuff in the game.”
In fact, Smith recalled during a game against Marked Tree, the Marmaduke girls were down by nine points at the end of the third quarter. He said Robinson’s coaching strategy contributed a lot to the Lady Hounds’ 16-6 run to win the game.
Richey also said Robinson is a great asset to his boys team as well. He said Robinson oversees the Greyhounds conditioning and weight program.
“He [Robinson] is out with us four or five nights a week,” Richey said. “He’s well-respected by the kids. He has a lot of input in our practices and ballgames. The kids think a lot of him.”
Robinson’s roots run deep in Marmaduke. Both he and his wife, Nikki, attended MHS and played basketball for the Hounds. Robinson graduated from MHS in 1994 and has been coaching there since 2004. He came back to Marmaduke after coaching the girls team in Rector for four years.
Robinson said he made the move to MHS because it was in his family’s best interest. He said his wife was an assistant coach at MHS while he was coaching in Rector and when their daughter, Heidi, was born both of them working at two different schools was a challenge.
“I really enjoyed coaching at Rector. It was a very good learning experience for me,” Robinson said. “But, [coming to MHS] was a good opportunity. I knew I would be under coach Richey and he does a good job. It was a difficult decision to make. I’m from [Marmaduke] and I love it here. But, I also had a good job [in Rector] and was enjoying what I was doing. But, I knew in the end [coming to MHS] was best for our family and that’s what you have to put first in a lot of things. I don’t regret the decision at all. I’m happy here and I love every minute of it.”
Basketball also runs in the Robinson family. Not only did Robinson and his wife play the game, his sister, Mikka, also played. He also said his father officiated basketball games for 25 years. Aside from their daughter, the Robinsons also have a son, Carson.
Robinson said his wife often asks if he would ever want to coach girls again. He said this year, he’s having an opportunity to see if he would want to become a girls head coach again. However, he said there is a lot of differences between coaching girls and coaching boys.
“They [boys and girls] obviously have to be handled in different ways,” Robinson said. “The athleticism factor is probably the biggest difference. There’s probably more athletes on the boys side than there are girls. There are girl athletes, but you take 10 kids on the floor in a boys game, you’re probably going to have six to eight athletes out there and in a girls game, you may have two or three.”
Robinson said coaching girls and boys off the court are “two different monsters” as well. He said it has been his experience that boys tend to be more “sports-minded” than girls.
“Boys, in general, have somewhat of a knowledge of the sport because maybe they watch [basketball] more or they watch Sportscenter or something where they at least keep up with [basketball]. Whereas girls maybe don’t spend as much time doing that,” Robinson said. “So, when you say certain things to boys — they understand it and pick up on it faster than maybe some girls do. But, by the same token, [boys] sometimes have the attitude that maybe they know a lot more than you or they already know that. Whereas girls, you have to break it down a little more and they’re more of a sponge because they don’t have as much of that background knowledge. [Girls] really do pay attention and listen to what you say. But, you may have to start out breaking it down in small steps for them early on. But, when they do pick up on it, they understand it really well.”
Aside from his duties with the basketball teams, Robinson also teaches, is a student council sponsor and coaches track in the spring. He said more students have signed up for track this year than last year and he will not be able to fully commit to track until basketball season ends. Robinson said Smith as agreed to assist him with the track team this year. But, he said he intends to take some time to “revamp” before track season begins.
“I’m not going to be happy that [basketball season] is over,” Robinson said. “But, I am going to take a deep breath and relax a little bit.”
“It’s not really been as busy as I thought it would be,” Robinson said. “The big change is I’m going to all the girls games now. It’s probably taking up more of my time than I realize. But, I’ve enjoyed it. The school year has definitely flown by so far.”
Robinson said when Hoffman left in July, Marmaduke superintendent Tim Gardner asked if he would be interested in becoming Hoffman’s replacement. However, he said he felt Smith “deserved” the job more than he did. Robinson said since the Lady Greyhounds have no seniors this year, every player on that team has played for Smith at some point in their career. He said he would not “feel right” taking over the girls program.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be the girls coach because I think it would be a great opportunity,” Robinson said. “But, I didn’t really want to change much about what I was doing with the boys. I really liked what I was doing, but I was kind of torn. It was really a tough decision. These are kind of [Smith’s] kids and I knew he would do a good job. He has a winning record at a lot of places he’s been. He’s won a lot of ballgames and some state championships.”
However, Robinson said he also did not want to leave Smith without an assistant. He said he knew the school would have a hard time finding an assistant before the season started.
“I knew with it being late in the summer, we would have a hard time finding somebody that we really wanted or somebody who could get out of their contract,” Robinson said. “So, I just kind of volunteered and said ‘I’ll do both [teams] for one year and we can kind of open up [our search] next year.’”
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“He [Robinson] knows a lot of times when we have a bad matchup on defense,” Smith said. “So, he does a lot of our defensive stuff in the game.”
In fact, Smith recalled during a game against Marked Tree, the Marmaduke girls were down by nine points at the end of the third quarter. He said Robinson’s coaching strategy contributed a lot to the Lady Hounds’ 16-6 run to win the game.
Richey also said Robinson is a great asset to his boys team as well. He said Robinson oversees the Greyhounds conditioning and weight program.
“He [Robinson] is out with us four or five nights a week,” Richey said. “He’s well-respected by the kids. He has a lot of input in our practices and ballgames. The kids think a lot of him.”
Robinson’s roots run deep in Marmaduke. Both he and his wife, Nikki, attended MHS and played basketball for the Hounds. Robinson graduated from MHS in 1994 and has been coaching there since 2004. He came back to Marmaduke after coaching the girls team in Rector for four years.
Robinson said he made the move to MHS because it was in his family’s best interest. He said his wife was an assistant coach at MHS while he was coaching in Rector and when their daughter, Heidi, was born both of them working at two different schools was a challenge.
“I really enjoyed coaching at Rector. It was a very good learning experience for me,” Robinson said. “But, [coming to MHS] was a good opportunity. I knew I would be under coach Richey and he does a good job. It was a difficult decision to make. I’m from [Marmaduke] and I love it here. But, I also had a good job [in Rector] and was enjoying what I was doing. But, I knew in the end [coming to MHS] was best for our family and that’s what you have to put first in a lot of things. I don’t regret the decision at all. I’m happy here and I love every minute of it.”
Basketball also runs in the Robinson family. Not only did Robinson and his wife play the game, his sister, Mikka, also played. He also said his father officiated basketball games for 25 years. Aside from their daughter, the Robinsons also have a son, Carson.
Robinson said his wife often asks if he would ever want to coach girls again. He said this year, he’s having an opportunity to see if he would want to become a girls head coach again. However, he said there is a lot of differences between coaching girls and coaching boys.
“They [boys and girls] obviously have to be handled in different ways,” Robinson said. “The athleticism factor is probably the biggest difference. There’s probably more athletes on the boys side than there are girls. There are girl athletes, but you take 10 kids on the floor in a boys game, you’re probably going to have six to eight athletes out there and in a girls game, you may have two or three.”
Robinson said coaching girls and boys off the court are “two different monsters” as well. He said it has been his experience that boys tend to be more “sports-minded” than girls.
“Boys, in general, have somewhat of a knowledge of the sport because maybe they watch [basketball] more or they watch Sportscenter or something where they at least keep up with [basketball]. Whereas girls maybe don’t spend as much time doing that,” Robinson said. “So, when you say certain things to boys — they understand it and pick up on it faster than maybe some girls do. But, by the same token, [boys] sometimes have the attitude that maybe they know a lot more than you or they already know that. Whereas girls, you have to break it down a little more and they’re more of a sponge because they don’t have as much of that background knowledge. [Girls] really do pay attention and listen to what you say. But, you may have to start out breaking it down in small steps for them early on. But, when they do pick up on it, they understand it really well.”
Aside from his duties with the basketball teams, Robinson also teaches, is a student council sponsor and coaches track in the spring. He said more students have signed up for track this year than last year and he will not be able to fully commit to track until basketball season ends. Robinson said Smith as agreed to assist him with the track team this year. But, he said he intends to take some time to “revamp” before track season begins.
“I’m not going to be happy that [basketball season] is over,” Robinson said. “But, I am going to take a deep breath and relax a little bit.”
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