Norman Roberts (born July 21, 1965) is a men's college

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach who is an assistant coach at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

. He also is the former head coach at St. John's University.

Early life

Roberts attended

Springfield Gardens High School Springfield Gardens High School was a public 4–year high school located in the Springfield Gardens section in the New York City borough of Queens. The school was opened in 1965. Closed in 2007, The Springfield Gardens High School building is now ...

, where he was a teammate of Anthony Mason.

Coaching career

Roberts's first coaching opportunity came when

Jack Curran John Joseph Curran (September 6, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American baseball and basketball coach. Curran was the head coach at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York. Curran won more basketball and baseball games than any ...

hired him as coach of the freshman team at

Archbishop Molloy High School Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on on 83-53 Manton Street, Briarwood, Queens, New York. It is part of the Roman C ...

. 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 Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. He is considered one of the forerunners of t ...

head coach Bill Self. Roberts followed Self to the University of Tulsa (in 1998),

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

(in 2000) and

(in 2003). 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

as an assistant coach, filling the position left by

Danny Manning Daniel Ricardo Manning (born May 17, 1966) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the Associate Head Mens Basketball Coach at the University of Louisville. Manning played high school basketball at Walter Hin ...

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 Michael D. Jarvis (born April 12, 1945) is an American college basketball coach most recently as head men's basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. He has coached at Boston University, George Washington University and St. John's Univers ...

, 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.

Florida

Roberts served as an assistant coach for

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for one season.

Kansas

Roberts was hired by

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

in 2012 as an assistant. He won his first national championship in the 2021–22 season. The following season, while head coach Bill Self served a 4-game suspension for recruiting violations, he served as acting head coach. He went 4–0 in the games he was acting head coach. Later that season, after Self was hospitalized, Roberts also coached the Jayhawks in the 2023 Big 12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament due to Self's health issues.

Family

Roberts and his wife have two sons. Both of his sons played Division I basketball; Niko played at Kansas as an invited walk-on and Justin played at Niagara.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Kansas Jayhawks bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Norm 1965 births Living people African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Florida Gators men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball coaches Oral Roberts Golden Eagles men's basketball coaches Queens Knights men's basketball coaches Queens Knights men's basketball players Sportspeople from Queens, New York St. John's Red Storm men's basketball coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball coaches 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople