Former Arizona assistant coach Steve Robinson un-retires to join staff at Elon

Elon College announced the veteran coach has joined its staff as a special assistant to head coach Billy Taylor, allowing Robinson to remain close to his South Atlantic roots.

"I am so excited and thankful for the opportunity Billy Taylor has given me to join the Elon family and men's basketball program," Robinson said in a statement. "After taking a year away from coaching and moving to Elon to be closer to family, I am ready to get back to doing what I love, and love what I am doing."

A native of Roanoke, Virginia, Robinson spent 18 seasons as a North Carolina assistant under Roy Williams before serving on Tommy Lloyd's first four Arizona coaching staffs from 2021-22 through 2024-25.

Overall, Robinson has spent 42 seasons in college basketball and said after he retired last year that he was grateful Lloyd offered him a job at UA in 2021. Robinson had been a candidate to replace Williams as UNC's head coach in 2021-22, but the school hired Hubert Davis instead.

“I just tried to be a set of eyes for him a lot of times, see things that maybe some of the younger guys weren’t thinking about and he gave me a lot of freedom," Robinson said of Lloyd in an interview with the Star in April 2025.

"Coming out here, one thing I found out was that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I’d spent 30 some years of running the Carolina system — we share the basketball, we run, we want to throw and utilize the big guys inside and out — and Tommy does it a totally different way, which was good for me. I said ‘Wow, this is good stuff.’”