Rob Summers has joined Cleveland State University as the head coach of the men's basketball program, following the announcement April 9 of his appointment. CSU's Athletics Director Kelsie Harkey introduced Summers to the community at a press event on Friday.

Summers' appointment followed the departure in late March of former head coach Daniyal Robinson, who led Cleveland State to three straight 20-win seasons during his tenure from 2022-2025.

Cleveland State's Athletics Department said it considered many candidates to take over Robinson's role, but ultimately settled on Summers, an Ohio native, to be the Vikings’ 18th head coach in program history. 

"Coach Summers stood out as the right leader for our program as we continue to strive to win championships in the classroom, on the court and in the community,” Harkey said.

Tearing up

Summers opened his introductory press conference at the Wolstein Center April 11 hesitating as he struggled to get out his words of appreciation.

“Man, I was scared no one was going to show up,” he said jokingly, brightening up the mood after his brief attempt to hold back tears were met with applause.

Summers started by thanking his wife Emelie for sticking with him from the beginning of his journey. He also showed love for his children Robert, Marina and Genoveva who were in attendance.

Summers went on to thank CSU's President Laura Bloomberg, Ph.D., Harkey and the board of trustees for selecting him to be the next head coach of the university’s men’s basketball program.

“It’s just an unbelievable feeling to be here, it’s surreal,” Summers said. He praised Cleveland and its community, calling the city “phenomenal” and “the best place to be in the world.”

Summers is no stranger to the city and CSU's basketball program. Prior to accepting the head coach role, he was assistant coach of the Vikings from 2019-2022. 

In that time, Summers helped CSU advance to the postseason twice while increasing the Vikings' scoring average by 10+ points per game as the team's offensive coordinator.

Summers thanked all of the former coaches that he worked for, most notably CSU's former head coach, Dennis Gates, who was in attendance on Friday.

“(He) took a chance on me… he had faith in me… you weren’t just my boss, you were my friend,” Summers said. “You really helped me out so much, through the ups and downs, we won.”

After acknowledging and thanking the former CSU coaches and players, Summers began speaking about the future of the program now that he’s taking over as the head coach.

“This isn’t a rebuild,” Summers said, though he’s currently looking at a blank roster. Summers said he plans on putting together a great team through recruitment and the portal while building on an already winning culture by hanging the team's hat on five core principles: brotherhood, unselfishness, integrity, love and discipline.

Experience

Summers returns to CSU after a season on Gates' staff at the University of Missouri where he was offensive coordinator, and helped the Mizzou Tigers reach the NCAA Tournament with the ninth ranked offense in the nation.

Before joining the Tigers for the 2024-25 season, Summers was the associate head coach of Miami, Ohio in 2022-24, guiding the program to its highest Mid-American Conference finish in 10 seasons.

Summers also served as an assistant coach at James Madison for two years, was the head coach of Division II Urbana (Ohio) for three years and was the associate head coach at Glenville State for two years.

Summers has a lengthy resume as a player, playing at Penn State for two seasons before transferring to West Virginia, where he made a Sweet 16 appearance at the NCAA Tournament as a junior and won a NIT Championship as a senior. He also played in the NBA development league, as well as professionally overseas in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

What's next?

As an offensive-minded coach, Summers said he plans to further improve the team’s scoring output, building on his success during his earlier stint with the program. He also wants to lead by example, making sure his players are high character individuals who take academics seriously.

Summers' commitment was clear when he offered 75 students free coffee from the campus Starbucks just a few hours before the press conference. There, he said his office would always be open and that he looks forward to becoming a part of the Cleveland State community.

“I want to make sure that years from now, whenever I’m done with this, Robert Summers was considered one of the great ones to come through.”