By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BILOXI — After winning over 1,000 prep basketball games as a head coach, veteran St. Patrick High head coach Keith Robinson announced his retirement recently.

Robinson just finished his 13th season at the helm of the Fighting Irish,

St. Patrick was Robinson’s fifth stop in his four plus decades as a head hoops coach. He started out at Runnelstown High in 1980 before bouncing around to both Northeast Jones and Philadelphia before coming to rest in Pascagoula where he spent six seasons in charge of the Panthers. He came to SPHS before the 2012-2013 season started.

“I have always believed that discipline, fundamentals, and a great work ethic are the keys to success,” Robinson said Friday afternoon. “I also put a strong emphasis on defense. I wanted all of our players to be good teammates.”

Robinson helped guide well over 100 players on to a college career and ended up with 1,019 wins.

Robinson won 138 games during his six-season span at Pascagoula, including a 25-8 record in 2010-11 which was his final campaign when he guided the Panthers to the Class 6A overall state finals.

Toward the end of last season, St. Patrick also rewarded head coach Keith Robinson with his 1,000th career win in a big 60-40 Region 8-3A home win over Tylertown.

The Fighting Irish finished last season off at a solid 23-8 and won the Region 8-3A title before advancing on to the Class 3A South State Quarterfinal Round before falling in a close 51-47 decision to Magee.

This season, SPHS won just 11 games but still qualified for a spot in the state playoffs.

“Getting 1,000 is great but it has never been about me,” Robinson said, after earning that milestone mark. “It’s about all the great players that I have been blessed to coach from the start in 1980 ’til today.”

Robinson indicated that at this point he doesn’t plan on taking another job just yet, but that could change later.