Taking a timeout from Warriors season to give a clenched fist to Franklin & Marshall College

March 15, 8:01 AMGolden State Warriors ExaminerMatt Steinmetz

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We're going to take a breather from the Warriors' 23-42 season for a minute to bring up a team having a different kind of year: the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats.

Franklin and Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pa., would be my alma mater, and the Diplomats will play in the Division III Final Four next weekend after winning their regional Saturday night in front of a packed house at Mayser Center.

After all, if you can't push your former school and team on your own website, where else can you do it?

For what it's worth, a few weeks ago I was talking to former Princeton coach and current Sacramento Kings consultant Pete Carril, who is very familiar with the Franklin and Marshall program and its coach Glenn Robinson.

Carril told me that back in the mid- to late 1960s, he didn't get a coaching job at F&M, as he was trying to make the transition from high school coach to college coach back east.

Carril coached at Easton High School and Reading High School in Pennsylvania before moving onto Lafayette for one year. After that, of course, Carril made his mark at Princeton University.

Not hiring Carril might have gone down as an epic mistake for F&M, but for the fact that Robinson wound up the all-time winningest Division III coach in NCAA history and among any of the great coaches when it comes to winning percentage and total victories.

If you don't know Carril, he can be very simple and blunt in his language. As I talked with him in mid-January when the Kings were in town to play the Warriors, the subject turned to F&M and Princeton. Back in the mid-1980s, Princeton used to open up their season with a game against us.

You know, the Division I team scheduling the Division III team to try to get the season rolling nicely.

Anyway, when the subject of Robinson came up, Carril, a true legend and pioneer of the game, had this to say: "Robinson ... that guy can coach."

Sometimes, that's all you can get out of Carril. Then again, it's really all you need.

Congratulations to the Diplomats and coach Robinson. Now, go win the thing.

♦

MORE ON THE DIPS ...

F&M beats DeSales, advances to Final Four in Salem, Va.

Game story: Lancasteronline.com

Division III Final Four information

On F&M coach Glenn Robinson