Brother of Michelle Obama fired as basketball coach at Oregon State

The president's brother-in-law guided the Oregon State Beavers to a 16-16 record last season. (AP)

Oregon State has fired men's basketball coach Craig Robinson, the brother of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Craig Robinson, who guided the team to a 93-104 record in six years, has three more years remaining on this contract and the university is expected to owe him more than $4 million. In his time at the helm, the Beavers never made it to the NCAA tournament. The Beavers were 16-16 last season and will lose all five starters.

The brother-in-law of President Obama started strong in Corvallis, taking a program that had lost 21 straight Pac-12 games to an 18-win season in 2008-09. The team won 21 games in 2011-12, but never again finished better than fifth in the Pac-12, including 10th this year.

"I want to thank Coach Robinson and his family for their contributions to Oregon State University," Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis said in a statement. "This was a difficult decision, but after further evaluation, I believe it is in the best interests of our student-athletes, our basketball program and our University."

Robinson, who is 6-6, played his college ball at Princeton, where his famous younger sister also attended. He was a two-time Ivy League player of the year. He later served as an assistant at Northwestern under Bill Carmody, an assistant coach at Princeton during Robinson's senior season as a player.