A Clemson Tiger from the Past: Shawan Robinson
It’s time to reach into the Clemson basketball archives and look back at another great Tiger basketball player, let’s take a look at Shawan Robinson.
Shawan Robinson signed with Clemson in 2002 to come play for coach Larry Shyatt. As a senior at Leesville Road High(NC) in Raleigh, the 6’2 combo guard averaged 16 points, five assists, and 3 steals per game playing for his dad, Darryl Robinson.
His freshman year, he scored 4.9 points off the bench for Shyatt and averaged 10.8 over his next two years under coach Oliver Purnell. He also started as a junior and made the second team All-ACC tournament team after averaging 20.5 points in his two tournament games.
In his final season, Robinson averaged a team leading 12.3 points coming off the bench and set two Clemson records. He established a new single season free throw percentage mark with 91.3 and he became the first player to be named Academic All-ACC in each of his four seasons. His free throw percentage was also fourth best all time in ACC and he was only the fourth player in the conference to make Academic All-ACC every year.
After graduating from Clemson, he played European basketball from 2006-2009 and averaged over 16 points with two of his three teams. Robinson is now the head coach at Panther Creek High in Cary, NC. I recently got a chance to ask him about Clemson, coaching, and the late Chris Hobbs.
Q: The college football signing day was just days ago. I know basketball is a little different but what do you remember about your signing day and how hard was it to make that decision?
Robinson: For me it wasn’t tough. I had grown close to coach Shyatt. It just felt comfortable. I knew the roster, I knew who was coming back, and I felt like we had a chance to win. I also felt like I had a chance to contribute to us winning. It wasn’t an incredible tough decision. I committed in August before signing day and I knew I wanted to play in the ACC and coach Shyatt would take care of me. It didn’t have the fanfare it does now. I didn’t have people taking a couple of pictures of me signing by myself, in my kitchen at home.
Q: You chose Clemson. If you knew someone else who was considering Clemson University, what would you tell them about your student athlete experience on the campus.
Robinson: For me there was nothing like it. It’s a small town and there aren’t a lot of distractions. But there is something to do if you want to do something. You had access to the gym all the time. It’s a pretty campus and the students supported the sports. The facilities were nice. I know they renovated when I was there and they are renovating now. I remember feeling like we had some amazing facilities.
Q: What was your most memorable game in a Tiger uniform?
Robinson: Two really stand out, I can’t pick one. The first one was when we were playing against Virginia Tech and I think at the time it clinched us the post season for the first time since I had been there. I believe the score was tied and I got a steal and hit Sharrod Ford for a dunk at the buzzer to win the game. The second game was beating Carolina(UNC) my sophomore year in Littlejohn.
Q: You were a four time Academic All-ACC honoree-that’s rare. Have you shared that honor with your kids when they struggle or feel like they can’t balance books and sports?
Robinson: I never really bring it up, but there are people that are apart of our program who bring it up to the guys. I tell them you have to balance it. You have to want to be successful on the court as much as you want to be in the classroom. At their age, they think that they will play forever. They don’t understand that even if they make it or are fortunate to make money playing basketball that it don’t last forever. I told them about Jervey and how we had mandatory study hall and how it was scripted into your day. I let them know that coaches checked our classes. If a school is going to invest money in you, then they are going to protect their investment and are not going to go after someone who doesn’t consistently do well in school.
Q: What made you come to the decision to give up professional basketball? Were you ready to coach or just done with playing?
Robinson: I think it was a little bit of both. The European game was a little bit harder for me to adjust to because Coach Purnell and Coach Shyatt were big motion(offense) guys. Overseas the motion game started dying and everybody is using the pick and roll. I had some opportunities to play after I came home for the final time, but I just decided it was time and time to start my coaching career. Right now, I’m where I want to be. I would love to venture into the college ranks at some point though. I just wanted to call some timeouts before I was someone’s assistant.
Q: You were coached by your Dad, Shyatt, Purnell, and you had European coaching. Which coach or coaching style is more noticeable in Coach Shawan Robinson?
Robinson: To be honest with you, I would say all of them. By all means, I’m not saying that I’m a great coach, but I’ve seen what great coaches do. I thought Purnell was a great coach and I thought Shyatt was a great coach, and of course I played for my Dad. If you came to a practice, you would see a little bit of all of them. It will be in drills, in what I say, and in the mentality that I try to impress upon the kids.
Q: Almost a year ago, your former teammate Chris Hobbs passed away at 33 years of age. What kind of person and player was Chris?
Robinson: Chris was my roommate on campus and on the road. He was a great fun loving guy. He would do anything for his teammates and he would go out there and lay his heart on the line every night. He had all the potential in the world. I think he made the All-ACC freshman team before I got there. He taught me a lot about being on campus, being a college basketball player, and what steps to make and not to make. He was very influential while I was there. It was very sad when he passed, I had planned on attending the funeral but we had a big snow storm here in Raleigh and we had a game on that day, so I wasn’t able to attend. Chris was a great friend. I had kind of lost touch with him. Although I would see him every now and then because we lived in the same area. But he would always give me a hug and ask me how I was doing. It was very sad and tragic to hear about that.
Shawan Robinson will be a successful coach and I know he has always been a good teacher. As a senior, he was a student teacher at Central Elementary School and his fifth grade class came to Littlejohn to see him play his last home game. They cheered him on as he scored 22 points in a 95-82 win over Georgia Tech.
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Robinson was destined to be a basketball coach and a teacher. His mom, Nancy like his father and former coach Darryl, was also a teacher. His parents have been a great influence on him and his sister, Joy’s life and will continue to help them. Nancy is now retired and Darryl is working alongside Shawan on the Panther Creek’s bench. And Joy, well she stayed in the family business and became a teacher.