John Robic has always proved that no challenge is too great to overcome.
    As a player, he transferred to Denison College after beginning his career at Walsh and had a very impressive career. As a member of the coaching staff at Kansas in the 1980’s, the Jayhawks made the Final Four both seasons and won the National Championship in 1988. At UMass, Robic was part of a major turnaround as the Minutemen went from also-rans to the Final Four in 1996. And now at YSU he is not backing down from his latest challenge.
    Robic, who this season enters his fourth year as Youngstown State University’s head basketball coach, faced one of the biggest head-coaching challenges last season as the Penguins moved from the Mid-Continent Conference to the Horizon League, one of the premier basketball league’s in the nation.
    And while the results weren’t always in its favor, YSU showed at times that it could play at the high level and that a bright future is on the horizon as the Penguins become more familiar with the league.
    Entering the 2001-02 season excitement surrounding the program was at an all-time high in the Mahoning Valley.
    YSU moved into the Horizon League, formerly the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, the Penguins had won 19 games and had enjoyed successes that the program had not had in years.
    But change can be difficult and after losing five seniors the 2001-02 season, it became a learning experience for the Penguins and Robic.
    Last season, YSU beat NCAA Tournament Elite Eight participant Kent State and won league games against Wright State and UW-Green Bay. The fans again supported the team at the Beeghly Center as YSU averaged more than 2,400 for the third straight season, the first time that has happened since the mid-80s.
    Robic, who owns a 36-50 record in three full seasons at YSU, helped lead the Penguins to a 19-11 mark in 2000-01 and an 11-5 record in the Mid-Continent Conference. The 11 victories in league play tied the school record for conference wins in a season.
   Robic’s group of Penguins accomplished many highwater marks that the program had not seen for a long time at YSU.
    By winning 19 games, the program had its second-highest victory total in the past 16 seasons.
    The 11 conference wins tied a school mark; YSU’s 4-0 start was the best in 15 years; the Penguins defeated a Mid-American Conference (Western Michigan) school for the first time since 1994; a fifth-place finish at the prestigious Puerto Rico Holiday Classic; a 10-2 home mark, the third-best in school history and a crowd of 6,213 turned out at the Beeghly Center when YSU played host to Valparaiso on Feb. 10, 2001.
    At home in 2000-01, the Penguins averaged 2,728 fans per game, the highest year for the program since 1988-89.
    Between his first and second years on the Penguins’ bench Robic worked hard off the court to help build a winning program.
    Numerous off-court aspects were improved as well. The Penguins’ locker room has been improved vastly with the addition of a players lounge featuring a big-screen television. The coaches offices have also been refurbished. In the arena, the court has been repainted and new scoreboards have been added.
    Robic finished his first season as a head coach and coach at YSU with a 12-16 overall mark and a fifth-place finish in the Mid-Continent Conference.
    In his first season as the Penguins’ bench boss, Robic revived basketball in the Youngstown community and gave people in the Valley reason to be excited about the new transition. Large crowds filled Beeghly Center as the Penguins had their highest attendance in 11 years.
    The 38-year old Robic, who was hired as the 11th head coach at Youngstown State in May 1999, has lived up to his reputation as being one of the best x-and-o coaches in the game today.
    He developed his skills working with two of the finest basketball coaching minds in the game today, John Calipari and Larry Brown.
    Robic was a winner as an assistant at UMass where he helped guide the Minutemen to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, a trip to the Final Four and one Sweet 16 appearance. He was a success at Kansas as a graduate assistant under Larry Brown, being part of the Jayhawks to a national championship team in 1988 and appearing in another Final Four in 1987.
    Robic learned the coaching ropes from two of the top programs in the country. Robic served two years as a graduate assistant at Kansas (1986-88) and 11 seasons (1988-99) at UMass.
    Serving as an assistant coach at UMass and Kansas, Robic participated in 299 victories, 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament, two Final Fours and a national championship.
    After serving under the tutelage of Calipari and James "Bruiser" Flint, Robic ended an 11-year term at UMass that saw the Minutemen post a remarkable record of 247-111, including nine trips to postseason play.
    The Minutemen went to the NCAA Tournament in 1992, 1993,1994, 1995,1996, 1997 and 1998, advancing to the NCAA Regionals in 1994-95 and the Final Four in 1995-96. They advanced to the NIT in 1990 and marched to the NIT Final Four in 1991.
    When Robic and Calipari first took over the UMass program in 1988, the Minutemen hovered on the bottom of the NCAA. It was through hard work and dedication that made that program succeed. It is going to be that same hard work and dedication that will give the Penguins a shot at their first conference title.
    He advanced in the coaching profession in 1995-96 when UMass elevated Robic to associate coach.
    Robic began his coaching career at his alma mater, Denison, serving as junior varsity coach in 1985-86.
    He then moved to Kansas as a graduate assistant under Brown, who is now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. During his two seasons at Kansas, the Jayhawks recorded a 52-22 mark, advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1987, and won the championship in 1988.
    A graduate of North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Robic attended Walsh College in Canton, Ohio, before transferring to Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where he earned his B.A. in speech communication and physical education in 1986.
    A two-year captain at Denison, Robic garnered Division III All-America accolades as a senior and was a two-time all-conference performer. He was one of 10 former players to be named to the 10th Anniversary All-Decade team in the league in 1994. Despite playing just two seasons at Denison, Robic is the sixth leading scorer in school history.
    Robic and his wife, Heidi, have three daughters, Hayley (10), Alli (7) and Sophie (5). The family resides in Canfield, Ohio.