KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City metro has a connection to Last Chance U: Basketball.
In Last Chance U: Basketball, a Netflix documentary about junior college basketball, the show features East Los Angeles College and its eccentric group of players led by head coach John Mosley, and one of his top assistants in Leavenworth, Kansas, native Robert Robinson.
Robinson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Leavenworth before moving to California at 16 due to his father’s job in law enforcement.
He played college basketball at Allen Hancock Community College, Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of California, Riverside. While at UC Riverside, he also ran track, qualifying for the NCAA national championship finals in the high jump in 1996.
After his playing days were over, he transitioned to coaching.
Coach Rob, as he is affectionately known, had a successful 20-year run as a head coach at Notre Dame High School in Riverside (1998-2019). Over two decades, the Titans won over 360 games with six league titles, a CIF championship, three regional finals, and a state finals appearance in 2018.
He has been named Cal-Hi State Coach of the Year, SCIBCA Southern Coach of the Year, and the Press Enterprise Coach of the Year.
But the junior college route was always his calling card and Robinson joined ELAC in 2019.
“I’m pretty stubborn,” Robinson said.
“I was stubborn as a player, and I’m stubborn as a coach, and I was when I wanted when I first started when I got done playing. I bought it, like, ‘I wanna coach junior college.'”
And this season he starts his own head coaching journey as the head of MiraCosta College in San Diego County.
“It’s a circus to get dudes to practice,” he said.
“Kids miss for certain reasons…. when they come back, you wanna be hard on them, but I just give them a hug because they come back through the gym, because, I mean, who knows what was going on.”
He also credits a former Leavenworth High basketball player, Larry Dougherty, for giving him his drive.
“If I see him today I would thank him. He doesn’t even know the impact he made on me. As a kid, I thought, ‘I wanna be that,'” he said.
Basketball has taken Coach Rob has been all around the world and Last Chance U has allowed him to connect with basketball enthusiasts all around the world. But he calls Leavenworth and Kansas City home.
“Leavenworth groomed me for hoops and I’m forever grateful for being in that city and being a part of that. I’m ready to come home, be with my family at some point and bring whatever I can basketball-wise to that area,” Robinson said.
“I wanna make an impact where I grew up and I haven’t been able to yet, and I’m stubborn, and I’m going to before I pass. I’m gonna make a basketball impact in the Leavenworth and Kansas City community.”
