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Posted Date: July 2, 2008
Texas Southern University completed a reorganization of its baseball coaching staff last week with the announcement that former Prairie View coach Michael Robertson will become the head coach at TSU. Robertson will succeed Candy Robinson who resigned on June 17 to become director of baseball and softball operations at the Houston institution. Texas Southern Athletic Director Charles McClelland made the announcement Friday (6/27). "I'm pleased to have a coach with the caliber of Michael Robertson to join the Texas Southern University family," said McClelland. "He has a history of winning at all levels that he has participated in, and we're going to look for him to propel our baseball program into one of the nation's elite." Robertson, who went 163-171 with the Panthers and led them to back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championships in 2006-07, said it was tough to leave Prairie View for TSU, but he considers it a move up. "(I know) in the back of my mind that I probably could have retired at Prairie View A&M University, because obviously it was a good marriage," said Robertson, whose contract ran through 2010. Robinson finished his 19-year coaching tenure at TSU with a 332-571-2 record. He directed the Tigers to their first SWAC tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004. McClelland was excited to have Robinson remain on board. "What we want to do to is to try to build a program that will be able to compete nationally," McClelland said. "To be able to do that, you need people and resources, and Candy has the contacts. He's going to be able to spend 100 percent of his time in helping to generate those contacts and dollars for the program." Over at Prairie View, where McClelland was AD for eight years before taking the TSU job in April, assistant coach Waskyla Cullivan has been named interim head baseball coach. "Prairie View A&M University and the Athletics department is extremely thankful for the contributions Michael Robertson has made to our program over the past six seasons," said Interim Athletics Director Fred Washington. "Our baseball program has enjoyed a lot of success under his direction and we're excited about the opportunity to build upon those successes with Coach Cullivan at the helm of our program this year." Cullivan takes over the Panthers baseball program after serving eight years as an assistant coach at the high school and collegiate levels. He arrived at Prairie View A&M in 2003 with former Coach Robertson and was a major part of the development of the teams that won titles in 2006 and 2007. As the primary recruiting liaison his efforts brought to Panther baseball three players that were subsequently drafted into Major League Baseballs' First-Year Player Draft. "I’ve learned a lot serving as an assistant coach under Coach Robertson over the past eight years," said Cullivan. "I feel my prior coaching experience will ease my transition into becoming a head coach. Overall I'm extremely excited about the opportunity Mr. Washington has given me."
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