Former UNBC men's basketball coach heading to east coast

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A long-time UNBC employee who filled key roles in the athletics department is taking on a new position on Canada's east coast.

Zane Robison, a former coach and player on the Timberwolves' men's basketball team, has been named the director of student life at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The title is similar to the position he's held at UNBC over the past few years as the residence and student life manager.

Robison is scheduled to begin filling the new role on Aug. 20. His final day at UNBC is Aug. 16.

"It's an exciting opportunity not only for the career, but also for my life," Robison said. "I've always wanted to be near the ocean and the east coast has been quite appealing to me. I'm excited for the opportunity and I think it'll be a really, really nice change. It's going to be tough to leave UNBC. I absolutely love it here and it's been an incredible place. It's been very good to me and this opportunity would've have come without what UNBC did, but I think this is going to be good for me."

Although he put in his notice at UNBC on July 3, Robison has continued working on the Cranbrook Hill campus this summer to help the university through the transition. The announcement of the hiring was made on Dalhousie's Notice Digest e-mail information service on July 10 (www.dal.ca/news/notices/2012_07_10.html).

Robison's acceptance of the Dalhousie  leaves an opening at UNBC. The job posting is listed among staff titles online at www.unbc.ca.

As a UNBC student and employee, Robison helped shape the men's basketball program. He filled the role of head coach from 2001 to 2008, turning a young program into a competitive squad in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association. Prior to joining the team as an assistant coach for the 2000-01 season, he played on the UNBC men's basketball team from 1996 to 2000.

Robison also acted as interim athletic director while the position was vacant in the 2009-10 season, before Jason Kerswill began filling the role in August 2010. Although it's been four years since Robison stepped down from his Timberwolves coaching position, his imprint is still seen on the roster today, having recruited guards Francis Rowe, Sam Raphael and Joel Rybachuk in 2008. The three students will be fifth-year players for the Timberwolves in the 2012-13 campaign, their first competing in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association.

Robison, a native of Nakusp, completed a undergraduate degree program in natural resources management in 2000. He's worked at UNBC a total of 16 years.

"It's been a huge part of my life for almost half my life so it's bittersweet," he said. "I think it's going to be definitely a significant change because UNBC has been such a big part of my life. But I think it was time to move on and try something different and try the big school experience, and this was obviously a good opportunity for that."