Robert Morris University stayed in house to hire its latest director of athletics, naming Craig Coleman, M.D., to the position Feb. 15, 2005. Coleman, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., who coaches RMU's softball team, began his new responsibilities May 1, 2005, and is in his second academic year in 2006-07. He replaced the late Susan K. Hofacre, Ph.D., who passed away in January 2005.

For the past 20 years, Coleman has built a winning softball program with the Colonials. During that period, RMU has won four Northeast Conference regular-season championships and six NEC Tournament titles. In 2005, Robert Morris finished with a league record of 17-3 to claim the regular-season championship, then swept through the NEC Tournament to claim its sixth title and advance to its first NCAA Tournament.

“As the longest-tenured coach at Robert Morris University, Craig has proven with his softball teams what it means to have a consistent and successful program both on the field and in the classroom,” said former Robert Morris University President Edward A. Nicholson, Ph.D. “His successful record will be an asset as he takes over as our new athletic director.”

Likewise, Coleman believes the timing was perfect for him to lead the athletic program at Robert Morris University.

“The time was right for me to make this professional change,” Coleman said at the time of his hiring. “I have always had a passion for athletics and for 15 years I held management positions in health care. As the athletic director, I can now merge these two positions into one that really excites me.”

From 1988 through 2005, Coleman worked as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School Medicine. From 1983 to 1989, he was the attending psychiatrist at Western Pyschiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh.

Coleman earned his medical degree from the The Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine in Hershey in 1983. In 1979, he earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

At RMU, Coleman turned a perennial losing softball program into NEC champions. Prior to his arrival as head coach in 1991, the Colonials posted a record of 19-45 in the previous three seasons. During his 20 years as head coach, the Colonials have posted an overall record of 491-432-4 (.532), including a record of 211-85-2 (.711) in conference play. He guided the Colonials to an overall record of 119-62 (.657) and four conference championships in his first four years, and in 1994, his team received the first national ranking in RMU history – regardless of sport – when his team was ranked as high as No. 23 in the USA Today / National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

Coleman’s success as head softball coach has come not only on the field, but in the classroom. His players include nine District II Academic All-Americans, three NEC Spring Scholar-Athletes for softball (Stephani Ehrenfeld in 2000, Nicole Aloi in 2001 and Annie Dubovec in 2010) and numerous NEC All-Academic Honor Roll selections. During the 1999-2000 academic year, RMU achieved the second-highest cumulative team grade point average among all NCAA Division I softball programs according to the NFCA, finishing with a 3.409 grade point average, behind only Louisiana Tech (3.571).

Prior to his appointment as head coach at Robert Morris, Coleman compiled a record of 359-158 (.694) in 16 seasons coaching summer softball, mostly with the Pittsburgh Patriots 18-and-under traveling fast-pitch team from 1986-91. He guided the Patriots of the Amateur Softball Association to three national tournaments in his final four years at the helm.