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Appalachian basketball coach retires

Julie Skeen, Staff Writer

Appalachian State University's women's basketball coach Linda Robinson recently resigned from her position after 13 years of coaching to assume a new role as assistant director of the Equity Office.

"Having been very successful as a collegiate coach, she was looking for other things, " said athletic director Roachel Laney. "To lose someone of her caliber is a concern because she's been with us so long and because of the tradition here and the quality in the program that we've had," Laney said.

Robinson began coaching at Appalachian in 1984. During her tenure she compiled a record of 337-173, with only two losing seasons to her name.

The women's basketball program has had 14 winning seasons since its inception in 1970, with 11 of those seasons coming under Robinson's guidance.

Robinson was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year on four different occasions. Under Robinson the Mountaineers won five Southern Conference Regular Season Championships, in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1996. The team also made NCAA Tournament appearances in 1990, 1991, and 1996.

Currently the athletic department is in the process of interviewing candidates for the head coach position and hopes to reach a decision within a week.

One internal candidate is being considered for the job, but no names have been released at this time. Players are participating in the interview process as well to ensure a smooth transition. It is not anticipated that any player will leave the team because of the coaching change.

"There is no good time for change but there are more critical times," Laney said.

"Anytime you have change it can be hard on people. It can be hard on players, other coaches and on family so it impacts a lot of people. We're looking at that and trying to make the change as positive as possible."

Laney said he and the university are happy with Linda's career decision. "We are happy for Linda for what she chose to do," Laney said.

We would still like to have Linda as our coach, but this has been her decision entirely, so we wish her well with her endeavors and look forward to working with her in her new position."

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