Ashley Robinson has been appointed to the position of Vice President and Director of Athletics, Prairie View A&M University President Dr. George Wright announced Wednesday.
In his fourth year directing athletics at Prairie View A&M, Robinson has played an active role in the design and construction of major athletics facilities projects on The Hill, highlighted by the opening of new Panther Stadium, the 15,000 seat home for PVAMU football which debuted before a sold out crowd and live national television audience on ESPNU.
In Spring 2016, upgrades were completed at Tankersley Field baseball facility: the installation of a new high-definition video message board completed the multi-year project that also included new grandstands, press area and scoreboards. In June, the new athletics administration building in the north end zone at Blackshear Field opened. The three-story complex is the new home for PVAMU Athletics, featuring offices and meeting rooms for all sports, a weight room, class rooms in academic support.
This past summer, the new outdoor track stadium opened and hosted the USA Olympic Track and Field training camp on the PVAMU campus prior to the Rio Olympics. In October, the new soccer complex opened, and hosted the 2016 Southwestern Athletic Conference soccer tournament in November.
Panther student-athletes have excelled in the classroom as well under Robinson’s watch. In the latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) report, five teams (baseball, bowling, men’s golf, men’s tennis and men’s track & field) posted a perfect APR score of 1,000 in 2014-15. Last season, Panther football posted the highest single-year APR score in the SWAC with a 975.
All 18 PVAMU athletics teams are eligible for NCAA Postseason play for the 2016-17 season.
Robinson currently serves as the Chair of the SWAC’s Athletic Directors Committee, and is a member of the FCS Advisory Committee.
Always with the goal of improving the student-athlete experience, Robinson implemented the Athletic Director’s Club, with membership increasing annually. He has also created and expanded corporate partnerships for the department, broadening the brand exposure of PVAMU Athletics.
He has also revised the department’s Policies and Procedure manual while also revamping the department’s finances which will directly impact the overall success of the PVAMU student-athlete on-and-off the playing field.
Robinson’s coaching hires have yielded immediate dividends. In his first two seasons, Willie Simmons has led Panther football to back-to-back winning seasons, the first PVAMU football coach to accomplish the feat in his first two years since 1950-51. After naming Byron Smith Interim Head Men’s Basketball Coach in late January, 2016, the Panthers posted a winning record in the second half of league play. Smith was named full-time head coach after the season.
Robinson is in his second stint at PVAMU, having previously served as the Assistant Vice President of Athletic Compliance & Academic Advising for three years before a nine-month stint as the athletic director at his alma mater, Mississippi Valley State University. Robinson was a four-year letterman at Valley and is both the single season and career assist holder, and was inducted into the MVSU Athletics Hall Of Fame in 2011.
Robinson has also served as academic coordinator at Delaware State, assistance compliance director and later compliance director at Jackson State, and Assistant Commissioner for Compliance at the Southwestern Athletic Conference office.
Courtesy: PVAMU Athletics
