Robert Rowell

Robert Rowell is an American sports executive who worked for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 16 years. Rowell was team president from 2003 to 2011.

Career Early career After completing his degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Robert Rowell worked for the university as business manager in the athletic department. In that role, he led an upgrade in the school's NCAA status from Division II to Division I-A.

In 1995, he was hired by the Golden State Warriors as assistant controller. He focused on marketing the team better, leading a re-branding campaign using the slogan: "It's a Great Time Out." He also improved the Warriors' website, increasing the number of visits and sales there, as well as installing an in-arena cybercafé and experimenting with live webcasts. Game attendance and season ticket sales increased.

Warriors president In June 2003, Rowell was promoted to team president, reporting to Chris Cohan, owner of the team at that time. Rowell's tenure as president was marked with success from a business operations standpoint but mostly disappointment on the basketball side.

After a disappointing finish to the 2003-04 season, head coach Eric Musselman was fired, and stars Nick Van Exel and Erick Dampier were traded. Rowell made his first major hires, attempting to better the team's basketball prospects. He hired Chris Mullin as executive vice president of basketball operations, similar to a general manager role, and Mike Montgomery as head coach.

The team underperformed under Montgomery, remaining at 12th place in the western conference for both years. However, flashes of potential came from the drafting of Monta Ellis and a trade for Baron Davis. In September 2006, Don Nelson replaced Montgomery as head coach and the team returned to the playoffs and shocked many in the basketball world when they defeated the top seeded Dallas Mavericks.