Robert Joseph Cremins Jr. (born July 4, 1947) is an American retired

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He served as a

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

at Appalachian State,

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, and the College of Charleston.

Early years

Cremins attended All Hallows High School in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, where he was born to Irish immigrants from

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

. In 1966, he entered the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

(USC) on a basketball scholarship, where he played under coach Frank McGuire. While Cremins was there, the

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

team won 61 games, with 17 losses, while Cremins was the starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

for three years for the Gamecocks. Cremins, known as "Cakes", was also the captain of South Carolina's 1969–70 team which went 25–3 and won USC's first (and only) ACC regular season title. He graduated from USC in 1970 with a B.S. degree in

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, before playing professional basketball for one year in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Early coaching career

Cremins started his coaching career in 1971 as an assistant coach at Point Park College in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He next returned to South Carolina to become McGuire's assistant coach and to earn a

M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

degree in guidance and counseling in 1972.

Appalachian State

At age 27, Cremins became one of the youngest

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

head coaches in history when he took charge of the basketball team at

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a Public university, public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a normal school, teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and th ...

. He inherited a program that had only won 22 games since joining Division I five years earlier, and had just come off the worst season in school history at 3–23. In his first year at Appalachian his team had a record of 13–14, but then they accumulated an 87–56 record over the next five seasons, with three

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

regular season championships. The Mountaineers posted a 23–6 record, and received an NCAA Tournament slot in 1979 after sweeping the Southern Conference regular season and tournament titles.

Georgia Tech

Cremins's performance at Appalachian State gathered him some national attention in the NCAA coaching ranks, including catching the eye of Georgia Tech

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

Homer Rice. After Rice persuaded him to come to Atlanta, Cremins was hired as the Yellow Jackets' new head basketball coach at the close of the 1981 season, on April 14, 1981. When Cremins arrived at Georgia Tech, he walked into a situation that was as bad, if not worse, than what he'd inherited at Appalachian State. Georgia Tech had only notched one winning season in the previous 10 years, and had just suffered the worst season in school history—a 4–23 overall record and a winless record in

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

play. Considering the poor state of the program he'd inherited, Cremins engineered a very quick return to respectability. In only his third year in Atlanta, he led the Yellow Jackets to the 1984 NIT—their first postseason berth of any sort in 13 years. A year later, the Yellow Jackets shocked the ACC by winning a share of the regular season title, then winning the conference tournament. They then advanced all the way to the Elite Eight, tallying an overall record of 27–8. In 1990, Cremins's team advanced all the way to the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

in the NCAA Tournament, with an overall 28–7 record. The 28 wins are still a school record for wins in a season. Cremins was three times the ACC "Coach of the Year": In 1983 with the first ever Yellow Jackets' ACC tournament victory, and an overall 13–15 won/loss record; again in 1985, and again in 1996 when his team posted a 24–12 record, won the ACC regular-season championship with a 13–3 record (only the second time in 15 years that a team from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

had not won at least a share of the title), and progressed to the NCAA basketball tournament's "Sweet 16" before losing to

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. Cremins' coaching of the 1990 Yellow Jackets' team earned him the Naismith College Coach of the Year honor. Cremins had a host of players that went on to have successful

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

careers. First there was

Mark Price William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. The last coaching job he held was as head coach of the Charlotte 49ers men's basketball, Charlotte 49ers. As a four-time NBA All-Star and ...

(the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

) and John Salley (the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

) in the early 1980s, followed by Duane Ferrell, Tom Hammonds, Dennis Scott, Brian Oliver, Kenny Anderson, Jon Barry, Travis Best,

Stephon Marbury Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who was also the head coach for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) from 2019–2023. After his freshman year ...

, Jason Collier and

Matt Harpring Matthew Joseph Harpring (born May 31, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was formerly paired with play-by-play broadcaster Craig Bolerjack as the colo ...

. Cremins was an assistant coach on the first-ever gold medal-winning American World University Games team in 1986, assisting the head coach

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

of the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. Cremins also assisted Olson at the

1986 FIBA World Championship The 1986 FIBA World Championship was the 10th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Spain and was held from 5 to 20 July 1986. The final phase of the tournament was hel ...

, also winning the gold medal there. During the summer of 1989 he coached the American team that qualified for the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

. Cremins assisted former

coach

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, fi ...

in the American basketball team's appearance in the Summer Olympic Games of 1996 in

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. This team was the second of the "Dream Teams" in the Olympic Games, and it featured such NBA stars as

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

Karl Malone Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone spen ...

Reggie Miller Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Assoc ...

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and John Stockton, several of whom were returning for their second Olympic Games basketball tournament. This "Dream Team" was undefeated in the Olympic basketball tournament, of course, and it defeated the second-place Yugoslavian team 95–69 in the championship game in winning the gold medal. On March 24, 1993, Cremins agreed to coach basketball at his alma mater, the

, before changing his mind and deciding three days later to continue at Georgia Tech. In 2003, Georgia Tech officially named the basketball court at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus, the "Cremins Court". Paul Hewitt would take his place at Georgia Tech in 2000. Cremins announced his retirement after the 1999–2000 season with a 25-year coaching record of 452–303 (a winning percentage of .599), and with a Georgia Tech coaching record of 354–237 in 19 seasons (also a .599 winning percentage). He is far and away the winningest coach in Georgia Tech history. With his platinum blond hair, Cremins was an iconic figure at Georgia Tech. It was very common for fans to show up at Alexander Memorial Coliseum wearing blond wigs. Cremins was a member of the 2006 induction class in the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

College of Charleston

Turning down numerous offers to coach during his retirement, and even an occasional athletic directors job, Cremins toured the country doing

motivational speaking Motivation is an mental state, internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particul ...

, did television commentary on ACC and NCAA basketball, and worked with

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, mainly for Coaches vs. Cancer and the Jimmy V Foundation. Cremins also raised money for a five-to-six week summer program, half of which include disadvantaged children, the Hilton Head Basketball Camp 101. In 2006, Cremins returned to coaching at the College of Charleston, hoping to restore the basketball program there to the mid-major power status that it experienced under coach John Kresse from 1980 to 2002. To some degree, Cremins succeeded, leading the team to four twenty-win seasons in his six seasons there, in addition to signing the highest-rated high school recruit in school history, Adjehi Baru. Another highlight of Cremins' tenure was a home upset over a

team ranked number nine in the country on January 4, 2010. Having taken a medical leave of absence on January 27, 2012, which lasted for the duration of the 2011–2012 season, Cremins retired from coaching on March 19, 2012, citing physical exhaustion.

Head coaching record

*= Team record at the time of Cremins' medical leave of absence on January 27, 2012. CofC finished season 19–12 overall with interim head coach Mark Byington being credited with a 7–4 coaching record.

Personal life

With his wife Carolyn, Cremins has one child, Bobby III, who is married to Jennifer, and two grandsons, Risen (Robert Joseph Cremins IV) and Xander (Alexander Charles Cremins). He also has two step-daughters, Liz and Suzie, from Carolyn's earlier marriage. He lives in

Hilton Head, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, often referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia (as the crow flies), and southwest of Charles ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cremins, Bobby 1947 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Ecuador Appalachian State Mountaineers men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Charleston Cougars men's basketball coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball coaches Point guards Point Park University people South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball coaches South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball players Sportspeople from Charleston, South Carolina Sportspeople from the Bronx United States men's national basketball team coaches American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen