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Job is an education for Hens' interim AD Robinson

Robinson, director of the sport management program in UD’s Lerner College of Business and Economics, has been involved in many aspects of athletics that prepared him for his new endeavor.

Kevin Tresolini
The News Journal
Matt Robinson, a professor who directs the sport management program in UD’s Lerner College of Business and Economics, is serving as the Blue Hens' interim athletic director.

NEWARK - Matt Robinson is suddenly getting an opportunity to practice what he's been teaching.

It’s probably the best part of the job for Delaware’s interim athletic director, who took over at the start of the new year.

For someone who is many things, but an educator primarily, overseeing an athletic department and 21 varsity sports is the latest in a lifetime of enlightening experiences.

“I kind of prided myself my entire career as an academician on saying ‘I like putting theory into practice,’ ” Robinson said from his Carpenter Center office Thursday morning.

“So here it is, an opportunity to do that. If it ended tomorrow, what a wealth of knowledge and experience I’ve gained -- bring it back to the classroom. It’s great when you talk about it in theory to bring out an example. Gosh, just in three weeks, it’s been an incredible learning experience for me.”

Robinson, 51, is director of the sport management program in UD’s Lerner College of Business and Economics. There, students learn how to handle jobs in athletic administration.

He was tabbed as the temporary replacement for Eric Ziady, who’d been AD for just over three years until a December parting of ways. The change coincides with new UD president Dennis Assanis officially taking over July 1.

“Delaware will benefit because of the type of person Matt is,” said Edgar Johnson, Delaware athletic director from 1984-2009. “He’s really smart. He’s been a college coach. He’s a doctorate faculty member. He has a relationship with the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee. He’s a go-getter. He’s committed.”

Assanis, who has been provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Stony Brook, will take part in various UD staffing decisions, including that of a new athletic director. Though no official plans have been announced, including whether or not Delaware will use a search firm, the job is expected to be filled by the summer.

Robinson was appointed by interim UD president Nancy Targett to fill the AD role. Among his first tasks, observers say, has been to help restore staff morale. While Robinson isn’t likely to be involved in major decisions such as hiring or firing coaches, he must deal with daily scheduling and budgetary decisions.

On Wednesday, he was asked for and approved an expenditure from men’s basketball that had not been budgeted but was necessary, he said, without providing details.

On Thursday, he and other athletic department officials were discussing this weekend’s impending snowstorm and how they might alter starting times of women’s basketball games.

“Your job is not to make an imprint in it,” Robinson said, drawing an analogy to a wet piece of cement. “Rather, it’s to partly protect and move it along so that when that person who is permanent comes in, they have that wet piece of cement.

“There are decisions that have to be made on a daily basis. There’s a snowstorm coming in. At this point I’m not going to say ‘We’re going to wait for July on that one.’ There are other things where I’m in constant communication with the president’s office where I’ll say, ‘Is this something we need to move on?’ There are other things I can just get a sense of ‘Hey that’s the new person’s decision.’ ”

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Robinson got early exposure to college athletics. While attending and playing soccer at York College, where he graduated in 1986, he became the de facto sports information director, writing press releases.

Still in his mid-20s, he then became head men's soccer coach at Western Maryland (now McDaniel), a post he held from 1989-93.

“I started out my career in coaching and I had that vision of being a Division III coach and athletic director who taught some classes, and then I went straight faculty,” Robinson said. “That was 20 years ago, and I truly love what I do as a faculty member and I love the research I do, I love the international work I do. But this [athletic administration] has been a fascination. It’s something I’ve been teaching.”

At Western Maryland, Robinson noted, he was also the groundskeeper and equipment manager. Juggling many duties has come to personify his professional life.

In addition to steering UD students toward potential careers, Robinson chairs the Delaware Sports Commission, which seeks to bring in sporting events, such as the Slam Dunk to the Beach high school basketball tournament, that provide economic benefit to the state.

He has also directed the International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Program, which has regularly brought overseas coaches to Delaware and the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Delaware women’s basketball coach Tina Martin twice traveled to Turkey and men’s basketball coach Monte Ross went to Senegal, each with other UD personnel to do clinics with coaches and players, as part of Robinson’s exchange missions. Each have had coaches serve on their staffs through that association.

“Matt’s unique because he has the sports background working with the federations, whether it’s soccer or basketball,” Martin said. “He’s been around athletics and he understands the coaching mentality, he understands talking to the coaches. He’s been saying ‘Hey, I know this is a tough time but we’ll get through it and let me help you in any way I can.’ ”

Robinson’s love for collecting data has led him to become the director of sports research for the Center for Applied Business and Economics Research. Among the numerous sports organizations with which he’s worked have been the U.S. Soccer Federation, U.S. Golf Association and a host of minor- and major-league teams.

Among Robinson’s many projects, Johnson pointed out, was one that analyzed economic data and helped pinpoint exactly which leagues were the best fit for certain schools.

“Matt’s been actively involved in all phases,” said Johnson, who lauded Robinson’s skills as a collaborator and has taught with him in the sport management program.

Robinson, who is still teaching a master’s level course during Winter Session, hopes to apply some of that data-analysis experience in his new post. Delaware has been plagued by a severe drop in football attendance in recent years. The 2014 and 2015 home-game averages were the lowest since Delaware Stadium was expanded to its present capacity in 1970.

“Why was I a Chicago Bulls fan for 13 years and now I couldn’t even tell you who starts for the Bulls,” Robinson said. “I attached to Michael Jordan.”

Those, he added, are called “attachment points.” He plans to put together focus groups of Delaware fans, which has not been done before, in an attempt to learn more about what endears them to the Blue Hens, and why they do – or don’t -- attend games. He’s done similar studies with positive results, he said, with the LPGA and minor-league baseball.

“It really gets to the heart of why a want and a need are not being met,” he said. “Evidence-based decision making is huge. I like to have pure data.’’

Much of Robinson’s time as AD so far, he said, has involved familiarizing himself more with people – and letting them get to know him.

A big part of the job, after all, is being a good ambassador. At halftime of a recent home men’s basketball game, Robinson grabbed the public-address microphone, introduced himself to the crowd and thanked them for coming.

“I’ve really focused my time on relationships, getting to know the people down here,” said Robinson, “seeing how passionate they are about what they do. And connecting with fans and alumni and the student-athletes. I think we have great kids here. There are good people here doing good things.

“And the other thing I think is great about Delaware is the passion fans have for their sports. They have an expectation. We’re Delaware, and they want us to do well.”

Delaware’s next athletic director will have to steer the Blue Hens through economically challenging times in an ever-changing environment while deciding if the right coaches are in place.

Delaware Stadium remains long overdue for an expensive but much-needed makeover, with UD unable to secure the donations necessary to make it happen so far. And the debate continues about whether the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) remains a viable setting for the Blue Hens, or if a move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) is economically and competitively feasible and if any conference wants them.

Delaware had athletic expenses and revenue of $29.4 million for the 2014-15 school year, according to U.S. Dept. of Education Equity in Athletics data.

“College athletics, not just Delaware, is at a point where people are trying to define what it will look like in the next 10, 20 years,” said Robinson, who’ll take part in CAA athletic directors meetings during the conference men’s basketball tournament in March in Baltimore.

“I don’t think I’ll solve that in an interim position. I really think that’ll be part of the interview process with someone coming in and communicating what they think that vision is. It’s a very interesting landscape right now and people have to define it and you’d like to think Delaware would be at the forefront of that, with who we are.’’

Asked if he’ll be interested in pursuing the AD job permanently, Robinson said, “I couldn’t answer that right now.”

“Have I enjoyed doing this?” he added. “Sure, it’s been great. Am I the right person for it? I don’t know, but I would say this: Being here 15 years, I’m a Blue Hen and hire the best person. If it’s me, that’s great. If not, I’ll be more than happy to go back to my classroom.”

In the meantime, he’ll enjoy learning in the one where this new job has placed him.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @kevintresolini.