Update, Aug. 14: Defender Network college sports editor Terrance Harris reported on X Friday afternoon that, according to sources, the Board of Regents has rejected head basketball candidate Corey Lowery while accepting athletics director candidate Ashley Robinson for next week’s vote. Per Harris, Lowery may have committed NCAA infractions by contacting Texas Southern players, and questions have also surfaced about his resume. The original story continues below.
Texas Southern’s Board of Regents meets Wednesday, Aug. 19, and two agenda items could reshape the leadership of Tiger athletics in a single afternoon. Board documents obtained by Data Driven HBCU show the Personnel and Litigation Committee will take up requests to appoint a candidate as vice president and athletics director and a candidate as head men’s basketball coach, each on a five-year employment contract with an annual base salary of $350,000.
Neither document names the candidate. But reporting by the Defender Network indicates the university is expected to announce Jackson State vice president and director of athletics Ashley Robinson as its new athletics director and Seton Hall assistant Corey Lowery as its new men’s basketball coach, pending board approval.
What the Documents Show
The two agenda items are nearly identical in structure. Each requests approval to appoint a candidate and to negotiate and execute a five-year employment contract. Each lists a fiscal impact of $350,000, described as both the not-to-exceed figure and the annual base salary, paid from non-state funds. Each was signed by President James W. Crawford III, the chief financial officer, and the general counsel on Aug. 13, six days before the board convenes.
| Agenda Item | Contract Term | Annual Base Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President and Athletics Director | Five years | $350,000 |
| Head Coach, Men’s Basketball | Five years | $350,000 |
Source: Texas Southern University Board of Regents agenda documents, Personnel and Litigation Committee, obtained by Data Driven HBCU. Both items are funded from non-state-appropriated sources.
Two details in the paperwork stand out. First, the supporting documentation for each item lists a vitae and a signed offer letter, held under separate cover. That language suggests both candidates have already accepted offers, with the board vote serving as the final step before contracts are executed. Second, the athletics director item elevates the role to vice president, the same title Robinson currently holds at Jackson State. The university’s newly revised job description for the position, updated in June, has the athletics director reporting to the senior vice president and chief administration officer.
Both searches were conducted by DHR Global Executive Search and Leadership Consulting, with Glenn Sugiyama, the firm’s longtime sports practice leader, serving as lead consultant alongside the university’s human resources office. The administration recommends approval of both items, which it ties to the student success goals of the university’s Ascend 2030 strategic plan.
The Reported Candidates
Robinson would arrive as one of the most decorated administrators in the SWAC. Now in his eighth year leading Jackson State, he has overseen 30 conference and national championships, including three SWAC football titles in four years and the 2024 Celebration Bowl. His most famous move was hiring Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as football coach in 2020, a decision that brought national attention and back-to-back conference championships. Robinson led Prairie View A&M’s athletics department before taking over at Jackson State in 2018, has been named a national athletics director of the year eight times, and was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2025. The move would also be a homecoming of sorts: Robinson has family ties to Houston and deep experience in the Texas wing of the conference.
Lowery has spent the last four seasons on Shaheen Holloway’s staff at Seton Hall, a stretch that included the 2024 NIT championship, after previously working under Holloway at Saint Peter’s. His head coaching experience includes HBCU roots: he spent two seasons at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where his final team went 18-10 and he was named CIAA Coach of the Year after the 2021-22 season, and six seasons at Essex County College, a New Jersey junior college he led to six straight regular-season conference titles and five consecutive national tournament appearances. In all, he brings 27 years of coaching experience, 16 of them as a head coach, and the appointment would have handed him his first Division I program.
That candidacy now appears to have collapsed. Harris reported Friday that the regents have rejected Lowery, citing sources who pointed to possible NCAA infractions from Lowery contacting Texas Southern players before any approved hire, as well as questions about his resume. The Defender Network had previously reported that Lowery’s biography at Seton Hall omits his time as a Pennsylvania high school principal, a stint that ended with him on administrative leave. What happens to the basketball agenda item Wednesday, whether it is pulled, tabled, or redirected to another candidate, is not yet clear.
The Vacancies They Would Fill
Both jobs have been open since the spring. Men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones departed for LSU in March, and the university parted ways with athletics director Kevin Granger, according to the Defender Network. Dr. Paula Jackson has served as interim athletics director and Shyrone Chatman as interim head coach in the months since. Chatman has spent the offseason recruiting through the transfer portal and building the non-conference schedule, and he remained a finalist for the permanent job.
The timing is tight on every side. Fall classes begin Monday, two days before the vote, and the season opener is roughly three months out. A new coach approved Wednesday would inherit a roster assembled by his interim predecessor and a schedule already in place.
Board approval is also not a formality at Texas Southern. In 2023, the regents rejected the athletics department’s recommendation of Fred McNair for the football job, a reminder that recommendations from the administration have failed on the floor before.
What $350,000 Buys in This Budget
The basketball number is worth putting in context. Texas Southern men’s basketball operated on about $1.65 million in total expenses in the 2024-25 school year, so a $350,000 base salary for the head coach alone would represent more than a fifth of the program’s entire recent budget. Before university support is counted, the program generated about $35,000 on its own last year against roughly $1.3 million in costs, with game guarantees bringing in an additional $582,000. Full financials for Texas Southern and its SWAC peers are available in our 2024-25 athletics financial data and NCAA financial reports.
The commitment is significant on the administrative side as well: matching five-year deals at $350,000 apiece means the board is being asked to approve $3.5 million in base salary obligations across the two positions, before incentives or additional compensation are negotiated. For a department whose sports rely heavily on university support, that is a statement about where the new administration wants athletics to go. Wednesday, the regents decide whether to make it.
Data Driven HBCU covers the financial reality of public HBCU athletics using publicly available federal filings, NCAA data, and primary documents. Contract details are drawn from Texas Southern University Board of Regents agenda documents obtained by Data Driven HBCU. Financial figures are drawn from federal athletics filings for the 2024-25 school year and NCAA financial reports.
