Bo Robinson - Assistant Coach - Baseball Coaches

Bo Robinson

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
barobin4@ncsu.edu
Phone:
(919) 515-3613

Bo Robinson joined the NC State baseball staff in August 2021 as its Director of Player and Program Development. Robinson was elevated to assistant coach in the summer of 2023.

Robinson came to Raleigh after spending nine seasons at Charlotte on its coaching staff, including the final two seasons as an associate head coach. He worked with the infielders and hitters while also assisting in the recruiting efforts of future 49ers.

In 2024, Robinson's coaching contributions elevated the Wolfpack to 15th nationally on base on balls with 334. A .976 fielding percentage put NC State 49th in the nation. As a team NC State ranked in the top 50 nationally in six statistical categories including, hits, hits allowed per nine innings, home runs, home run per game, runs, and shutouts.

In 2023, Robinson’s coaching efforts helped the Wolfpack rank 25^th nationally and third in the ACC with 2.26 doubles per game. The Pack also ranked 31^st in the nation with 129 total doubles and 36^th nationally with 92 home runs. A balanced NC State lineup saw six batters slug 10 home runs or more this past season, highlighted by LuJames Groover III’s team-best 13 on the season. Groover III, who Robinson also coached at Charlotte in 2021, earned Third Team All-ACC accolades in 2023 and was selected No. 48 overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 MLB Draft.

He brings a wealth of experience in player growth and development, as the Niners turned in a historic 2021 season. Robinson helped guide the Niners to a 40-win season and return trip back to NCAA Postseason play in 10 years. The 49ers led the country all year until the Super Regionals with 130 doubles on the year and hit .297 as a team. The Niners cranked out 594 hits with those 130 doubles and 66 home runs during the season which led to 374 RBI and 417 runs scored. The 49ers also tied a school-record with an 11-game win streak during the year and were ranked in the top-25 for the final 30 games of the regular season getting as high as #15 which also set a new school record for highest-ever ranking for the program.

Awards throughout the record-setting year started with All-American Austin Knight winning the league's Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and all-conference first team honors. Bryce McGowan and Christian Lothes joined Knight on the first team while Will Butcher and Aaron McKeithan took home second team honors. In addition to Lothes and Butcher, LuJames Groover III ended the year with all-freshman honors. Knight went on to become a first team All-American selection by Collegiate Baseball and became a semifinalist in both the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy honors. Butcher and Lothes eventually took home freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball as well.

In the shortened 2020 season, Robinson helped Dominic Pilolli and David McCabe earn Freshman All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball in their 17-game rookie seasons. Pilolli hit .403 at the plate which was the best among all Conference USA freshmen, fourth-best overall in C-USA and sixth among all freshmen across the country. Pilolli belted out 27 hits, tied for first in C-USA when the season ended, and second-most nationwide. McCabe's patience at the plate earned him 16 walks, second-most among all freshmen nationwide, adding 15 hits at the plate. Charlotte led C-USA with 94 team walks on the year.

Robinson helped produce yet another MLB draft pick for the Niners when Harris Yett was selected by Baltimore in June 2019. Yett, a first team all Conference USA performer, hit .325 with 22 doubles, 11th-most in the country, with eight home runs and 39 RBI. Todd Elwood (.333), Carson Johnson (.304) and Tommy Bullock (.300) all joined Yett in hitting .300 or better on the year. For the second-straight year, Yett was named a Buster Posey Award (formerly Johnny Bench Award) semifinalist. Charlotte also set a new school record for the best defensive year fielding at a .977 clip with just 44 errors as a team.

In 2018, the Charlotte offense was the toughest team to strikeout in Conference USA for the third-straight season. The 49ers were led by Jackson Mims, Yett, Elwood and Reece Hampton all hitting above .300 on the year. Five players in all, including Mims, Yett and Hampton, we're selected to all-Conference USA teams. Hampton became a 12th round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers while Yett was named a semifinalist for the prestigious Johnny Bench award.

For the second-straight year under Robinson in 2017, Charlotte improved to a .300 hitting team and set another school-record with a .978 fielding percentage in 2017. The .301 team batting average led to a 34 wins, 18 in C-USA play and a trip deep into the league's year-end tournament. Six different players hit .300 or better with three of those becoming MLB Draft picks in June. In the last three seasons under Robinson, hitting numbers have gone up across the board. Hits have increased from 403 to 572 and 610 during the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons along with runs (204-309-384), doubles (68-105-107), triples (8-13-18) and HR (15-34-41). In addition to the offensive numbers going up, the Niners have had the fewest strikeouts in Conference USA over the past two seasons.

T.J. Nichting improved his average to a team-best .373 leading C-USA for most of the season while Drew Ober hit .354 in 12 games before a season-ending injury. Brett Netzer and Zach Jarrett each hit .342 while Jackson Mims and Hunter Jones followed at .319 and .310 respectively. Jones' .310 became a career high in a season. Netzer became a third round draft pick by the Boston Red Sox later in June while Nichting (9th round) and Jarrett (28th round) were both selected by Baltimore.

The new record-setting fielding percentage of .978 was top-20 in the nation while leading Conference USA. The Niners also led the league in triples with 18. Postseason awards saw six 49ers make C-USA all-conference teams with Nichting (1st), Netzer (2nd) and Zack Smith (freshman) earning honors.

During 2016, Charlotte had their best hitting year since 2011 hitting .294 over 55 games. Robinson led the 49ers offense in improving every offensive statistical category while cutting down the strikeout total. Some of the offensive improvements came in the form of a 105-run improvement from 2015 that included 169 more hits (572 total), 37 more doubles (105), 19 more long balls (34) and 96 RBI improvement (271).

On the defensive side of his duties, Robinson guided the Niners to their best fielding percentage in 2016 sporting a .971 mark committing just 65 errors with 15 outfield assists.

Robinson helped Brett Netzer, Logan Sherer and T.J. Nichting to all-conference honors as second team representatives while Reece Hampton landed on Conference USA's all-Freshman team. Defensively, Sherer was named a Rawlings/ABCA first team member as the best first baseman in the region.

In his first full-time season of 2015, Robinson helped improved the Niners team batting average right off the bat going from a slow .173 batting average in February, to an immediate turnaround in March hitting .267. After hitting at a .258 clip in April, the Niners would post a .263 average for March and April combined getting them in the Conference USA tournament race.

Robinson also helped senior Brad Elwood end the year hitting .328 to wrap up his career as a .308 hitter while also aiding Brett Netzer in landing on Conference USA's All-Freshman Team after hitting .318 on the season. Fellow freshman Eddie Hull would hit .364 in 22 at-bats, primarily as a pinch-hitter. Robinson would assist Logan Sherer in turning around his season with the biggest individual turnaround of the year. Sherer, sitting on a .149 average after 13 games, would then go on to hit safely in 31 of his last 35 games, hitting 363 over that 35-game span, to finish the year as a .311 hitter.

The 2013 squad saw immediate dividends with his addition as the 49ers had an All-Rookie catcher (Brett Lang) and the league's Co-Player of the Year, Justin Seager. The 49ers grabbed more hits and doubles than in 2013 and the team won 37 games, the sixth time in the past eight seasons that the program collected 35 or more wins.

An alum of the 49er program, Robinson remains the only player in Charlotte history to reach 100 RBI in a season, which he did in 1998, a season in which Charlotte was selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament as an at-large entry (only 48 teams played in the postseason in those years). He also hit a school-record 32 doubles of his record 106 hits that year, and he owns the career marks for doubles (82), RBI (230) and total bases (499). The 49ers retired his number-four jersey on May 12, 2013.

He is second in hits all-time at Charlotte (289), third in career runs scored (198) and homers (38), fourth in games played (221), seventh in batting average (.355) and slugging percentage for a career (.612) with the 49ers.

He is one of five players in team history to win a league batting title, hitting .424 for Charlotte in Conference USA in 1998, when he played in all 62 games for the 49ers in 1998. He earned one First-Team and three Second-Team All-America honors after that season, adding to a Freshman All-American honor in 1995.

He was the Seattle Mariners Minor League "Player of the Year" in 1999 after winning the Midwest League batting title with a .329 average, league record 50 doubles and 13 home runs. He also scored 101 runs, posted 102 RBI with 108 walks that season. He followed that with 33 more doubles, 10 homers, 97 RBI and a .313 average with Lancaster to earn an All-Star nod in the California League. Robinson also played in the Double-A All Star Game after hitting .293 with 13 round-trippers and 74 more RBI with San Antonio of the Texas League.

He also spent time in the Yankees and Cardinals organizations, playing as late as the 2005 season in the minor leagues. He advanced as far as triple-A with the Columbus Clippers with the Yankees organization.

Robinson was one of the most respected hitting instructors in the Charlotte region, formally holding the post of Director of Player Development with the On Deck Baseball Skill Development Academy. He was the head coach for the On Deck O's team in 2011. While at On Deck, he helped over 250 players receive college scholarships to play baseball. He joined On Deck in 2000, with former 49er Jason Hill, during his professional playing career. After his playing days were over, Robinson worked toward completion of his degree at Charlotte, which he did with a B.A. in History, awarded in May of 2010.

He is a Charlotte product, attending South Mecklenburg High in Charlotte, earning Mecklenburg County Player of the Year, All-State and All-Conference honors with the Sabres. Robinson is married to Charlotte alum Amanda Pannell Robinson and they have two kids Jack (16) and Max (10).