Texas Southern expected to announce Ashley Robinson, Corey Lowery as new hires. Questions loom

An anticipated announcement that Texas Southern has officially hired a new men’s basketball coach has turned into an unnamed duo hiring of an athletic director and a replacement for Johnny Jones.

But don’t expect any official announcement of the hires anytime soon.

TSU sent out a press release from President J.W. Crawford’s office on Tuesday morning stating that candidates have been identified for both athletic department openings and have been presented to the Board of Regents for approval. But that approval won’t come until the Board of Regents convenes to vote on Aug. 28.

TSU hired a search firm to identify and vet candidates for both positions, but all indications are that Crawford had his candidates in mind and made the ultimate decision.

“The searches for these two critical leadership positions have been thorough and deliberate,” Crawford said in a released statement. “We appreciate the dedication and hard work of our search committees and the many individuals who contributed to this process. I look forward to presenting my recommendations to the Board of Regents later this month.”

Crawford did not name who the candidates are for the roles, but the Defender has learned from several sources that Crawford’s recommendations are to hire Jackson Stater athletic director Ashley Robinson to replace Kevin Granger at the helm of the athletic department, and, as previously reported, he is proposing hiring Seton Hall assistant coach Corey Lowery.

But the optimal word in both of these hires is “proposed,” because the board could either approve one or both hires or reject one or both in a vote that comes 11 days after the 2026-27 academic year starts at TSU.

In 2023, former athletic director Granger had an agreement in principle to hire successful Alcorn State football coach Fred McNair.

But the Board of Regents decided to go in a different direction, which eventually led to the hiring of Cris Dishman and left McNair out in the cold because he had resigned from Alcorn State. McNair has not been a head coach since.

According to sources, Lowery has already resigned at Seton Hall and informed TSU players that he will be on campus Thursday and that he will have a staff in place.

The hiring of Robinson does seem like a major coup, considering the job he did in rebuilding the athletic departments at Prairie View and Jackson State. Much of the success PV is still having in football and men’s basketball can be traced to Robinson. He is also responsible for having the vision to hire Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders to revive the Tigers’ football program.  

Robinson still has family ties to Houston and seems to favor returning to the area after being in the mix a couple of years ago to reprise his role as the Panthers’ AD, but he remained at Jackson State, and PV hired Anton Goff. 

The approval of Lowery, however, could prove problematic because of a lawsuit and a leave of absence stemming from his role as a principal, which isn’t listed in his biography. According to a report from TapInto Union, Lowery was sued when he was the principal at Union High School in Lincoln University, PA, from 2015-2018, when he was put on paid administrative leave.

The Township of Union Schools Athletic Director Linda Ionta filed the lawsuit against Lowery, alleging that he engaged “in a severe and pervasive pattern of conduct designed to usurp and undermine Ms. Ionta in her position as Athletic Director.”

Lowery eventually filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education president, according to the report. It’s unclear what became of both lawsuits, but his tenure as principal at Union High School is not mentioned in his Seton Hall bio.

According to sources, Lowery also contacted at least two current TSU basketball players while he was still a coach at Seton Hall, which could put him in jeopardy of an NCAA violation for impermissible contact with student-athletes at another school.

The Defender’s attempts to reach Robinson, Lowery, and the NCAA were unsuccessful.

In the meantime, there is also an uproar among alumni, supporters of the athletic department, and some of the recently recruited student-athletes and their parents. The players and their parents are concerned about the late changes with classes set to begin in a few days.

Shyrone Chatman, who was appointed as the interim head coach after Jones’ departure, has recruited several players from the transfer portal and has retained some of the players from last season’s roster. Chatman has been working out the players, installing his system, and has put together the entire 2026-27 non-conference schedule.

There was a growing belief that Chatman might be given at least a contract through the end of the upcoming season, which would give the newly hired athletic director time to evaluate the program and either retain Chatman or pick his own coach next spring.

Sources say that was the direction Robinson, who was also the athletic director at Prairie View, was leaning. Crawford, however, had already decided to hire Lowery.

But it’s unclear whether Lowery will pass the Board of Regents vote, considering his past and the fact that Granger was fired while facing a sexual assault lawsuit that has since been dropped.

The Defender has obtained letters from a once-prominent figure in the athletic department asking the Board of Regents and Senior Vice President and Chief Administration Officer Dr. Rodney D. Smith not to hire Lowery and to consider keeping Chatman at least in the interim.

Until this all shakes out, Chatman remains the interim men’s basketball coach and is expected to meet with the student-athletes and their families when they arrive on campus this weekend with questions. Dr. Paula Jackson remains the interim athletic director, a position she has held since moving to Houston nearly a year ago.