Southern Utah University will name LSU assistant Nick Robinson as its new basketball coach Thursday at a 2 p.m. press conference.

Robinson, 32, replaces Roger Reid, whose contract was not extended after his fifth season at SUU. The Thunderbirds finished 14-17 overall and 8-10 in the Summit League.

SUU moves to the Big Sky Conference in July.

Along with Robinson, Southern Utah interviewed two other candidates for the job: Indiana Hills (Iowa) Community College head coach and former SUU assistant Barret Peery, in addition to Pacific assistant Ron Verlin.

On Tuesday night, two people with knowledge of the situation characterized Peery as the front-runner. But Robinson turned out to be the choice of athletic director Ken Beazer.

Robinson just finished his first season as an assistant at LSU after serving one year as Tiger head coach Trent Johnson's executive assistant and one as the program's director of basketball operations.

Robinson attended Stanford and was a three-time member of the then-Pac 10's all-academic team.

His coaching career started in 2006 at Stanford. He moved to William Jewell College for two season before joining Johnson's staff in 2009.

LSU finished 18-15 overall and 7-9 in the Southeast Conference this season, finishing with a 96-76 loss to Oregon in the first round of the NIT.