Norm Roberts


Norman Roberts is a men's college basketball coach. He is currently an assistant coach at Kansas and is the former head coach of the St. John's Red Storm.

Early life

Roberts attended Springfield Gardens High School, where he was a teammate of Anthony Mason.

Coaching career

Roberts's first coaching opportunity came when Jack Curran hired him as coach of the freshman team at Archbishop Molloy High School. In 1991 Roberts became head coach at Queens College, a position he held until 1995. Prior to the 1996–97 season, Roberts was hired by then-Oral Roberts head coach Bill Self. Roberts followed Self to University of Tulsa, University of Illinois and University of Kansas. On April 13, 2004 he signed a five-year contract to coach the men's basketball team at St. John's University. His assistants included Glenn Braica, Chris Casey, and Fred Quartlebaum. In April 2012 Roberts returned to the University of Kansas as an assistant coach; filling the position left by Danny Manning.

St. John's

On April 13, 2004 Roberts signed a five-year contract to coach the men's basketball team at St. John's University. Although Roberts was thought of as a longshot, school officials were impressed by his work as Self's top recruiter over the past four years. Additionally, he was a New York City native, and it was hoped he would rebuild the Red Storm's traditional pipeline to the area's rich pool of high school basketball players. Historically, St. John's has been known for fielding powerhouse teams built mainly on New York City talent. He succeeded Kevin Clark, who served as the interim coach after Mike Jarvis, who was fired midway through the 2003–04 season.
Roberts was fired by St. John's on March 19, 2010, after the Red Storm lost in the first round of the 2010 NIT. In 2011, Florida coach Billy Donovan hired Roberts as an assistant coach.

Family

Roberts and his wife, Pascale, have two sons, Niko and Justin. Niko played on the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team as an invited walk-on, and Justin is currently a sophomore guard for the Niagara Purple Eagles.

Head coaching record