Interim Athletic Director John Robinson Jr. stepped down Friday, ending his seven-year tenure as deputy director of athletics. He was the interim AD following Dave Maggard’s retirement in May.
His departure comes on the heels of the hiring of AD Mack Rhoades, who officially started Monday. Robinson was a candidate for the AD job after serving as second in command since Maggard took office in 2002.
During his tenure, Robinson was responsible for managing the day-to-day administrative roles of the Athletics Department, while managing UH’s $30-million athletics budget.
He was also responsible for implementing a budgetary plan that ultimately reduced the need for the financial support of athletics by more than $3 million.
One of Robinson’s biggest achievements was increasing attendance at football games. As a result of his marketing campaign, student attendance improved more than five-fold. General attendance rose 44 percent during his seven years.
Prior to his arrival at UH, Robinson was an associate athletics director at Villanova University in Philadelphia. He also served as the sports administrator for football, men’s and women’s cross country, track and field, golf, men’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer and softball.
Robinson was also active on the conference level, serving on the Big East Conference Rowing and Legislative Committees.
This experience would serve him well in his time at UH, as he was assistant tournament director of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship for the 2008 regional. Robinson also served as UH’s managing administrator for on-campus Major League Soccer franchise (Dynamo) and international soccer games.
Before entering the administrative arena, Robinson was a student athlete at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he was a member of the Southwest Conference co-champion football team. His hard work in the classroom earned him membership on the All-Southwest Conference Academic Honor Team.
After SMU’s athletic programs were severely sanctioned by the NCAA, Robinson transferred to Columbia University in New York City. He continued his football career there and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1987.
Robinson continued his education at Tulane, earning a doctorate from its law school.