Eastern Illinois director of athletics Tom Michael has announced the hiring of
Robin Cambier as the new director of men's and women's tennis for Panther Athletics.
Cambier will coach both programs this weekend as the women play at Cincinnati on Friday while the men have a pair of matches in Bloomington-Normal against Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State.
Cambier most recently served as the associate head women's tennis coach at Marshall University. While with the program he recruited and coached the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year as Marshall brought in its highest recruiting class in ten years. The program would climb to as high as No. 75 in the ITA Rankings.
"First off, I would like to thank EIU President Dr. Gatrell, Athletic Director Tom Michael and Deputy Athletic Director Mark Bonnstetter for their trust in me and for giving me the opportunity to lead both EIU tennis programs," said Cambier. "I am very excited to start working with the student-athletes and to coach them to become the best on- and off-court version of themselves. I also want to give a special thanks to my family, my girlfriend, and my mentors for their support throughout this process. Go Panthers!"
Originally from Belgium, Cambier was a high-level collegiate player competing for four seasons at the University of Oregon. He earned both second team and honorable mention Pac-12 Conference honors in his playing days and competed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. He would climb to as high No. 59 in the ITA singles rankings and No.27 in the ITA doubles rankings in his career.
Following his playing days he jumped into collegiate sports working for the Pac-12 Networks in sales while also serving as an assistant coach at the Weil Tennis Academy & College Preparatory School in California.
His first collegiate job was as an assistant women's coach at Washington State for four years where he earned ITA Northwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors in 2016. During his time at WSU he recruited five players that would post top 100 ITA rankings in their collegiate careers including All-American and Pac-12 Player of the Year Michaela Bayerlova. The program would post its highest ITA ranking of No. 31 during the 2018 season.
Cambier moved on to work as an assistant men's coach at Florida State for one season before moving back to the women's game first as an assistant coach at William & Mary and then as the interim head coach for part of 2021.
Cambier holds a bachelor's degree from Oregon in 2014 as he finished his playing career as the Ducks career leader in both singles and doubles wins. He earned a master's degree from Florida State in 2019.