John Robinson (American football coach)

John Robinson
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1935-07-25) July 25, 1935 Chicago, Illinois
Playing career
1955–1957	Oregon
Position(s)	End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1960–1971 1972–1974 1975 1976–1982 1983–1991 1993–1997 1999–2004 2010	Oregon (assistant) USC (OC) Oakland Raiders (RB) USC Los Angeles Rams USC UNLV San Marcos HS (CA) (DC)
Head coaching record
Overall	132–77–4 (college) 79–74 (NFL)
Bowls	8–1
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 1 National (1978) 5 Pac-8/Pac-10 (1976, 1978–1979, 1993, 1995)
Awards Rose Bowl Hall of Fame (2003)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 2009 (profile)

John Alexander Robinson (born July 25, 1935) is a former American football player and coach best known for his two stints as head coach of the University of Southern California (USC) football team (1976–1982, 1993–1997) and for his tenure as head coach of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams (1983–1991). Robinson's USC teams won four Rose Bowls and captured a share of the national championship in the 1978 season. Robinson is one of the few college football head coaches to have non-consecutive tenure at the same school. In 2009, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He is a Board Member for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott, and is awarded annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year.

Biography

Early life and playing career

Robinson grew up in Daly City, California, where he attended elementary school with future Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden, and graduated from Junípero Serra High School. He attended the University of Oregon, where he played end on Oregon's 1958 Rose Bowl team.

Coaching career

He began his coaching career at the University of Oregon, his alma mater, where he served as an assistant coach under Len Casanova and Jerry Frei from 1960 to 1971. He served as USC's offensive coordinator in 1972 under John McKay, who had been an assistant coach at Oregon when Robinson played there, then served a stint as the Oakland Raiders' backfield coach in 1975, rejoining Madden, who was by then Oakland's head coach. Robinson coached at USC from 1976 to 1982 and again from 1993 to 1997, putting up a career record as a college head coach of 104–35–4, for a winning percentage of .741.

Robinson is considered one of the more successful coaches in Rams history, twice leading the team to the NFC title game. Both of those contests ended in defeat against eventual Super Bowl champions, the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 1989 San Francisco 49ers. Robinson's tenure as Rams coach was made more difficult by the fact that the Rams played in the same division as the 49ers, the dominant team of the 1980s, but he was also the coach who drafted running back Eric Dickerson.

Robinson was hired to coach football at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1998. After a 2–0 start, the second win coming at Baylor where the Rebels won despite entering the game's final play down by three points and not possessing the ball, Robinson's first UNLV team finished only 3–8. The Rebels rebounded to win eight games in 2000. In 2002, Robinson was chosen as the university's athletic director, but he stepped down from that position a year later to concentrate on the coaching position. Despite being relieved of duty as athletic director, his tenure ended on a disappointing note with the Rebels going 2–9 in his final season in 2004.

In 2010, Robinson returned to coaching as defensive coordinator at San Marcos High School in San Marcos, California. He had never before coached at the high school level.

Broadcasting

Robinson currently serves as a color analyst on NFL game broadcasts for the Sports USA Radio Network.

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
USC Trojans (Pacific-8/Pacific-10 Conference) (1976–1982)
1976	USC	11–1	7–0	1st	W Rose	2	2
1977	USC	8–4	5–2	T–2nd	W Bluebonnet	12	13
1978	USC	12–1	6–1	1st	W Rose	1	2
1979	USC	11–0–1	6–0–1	1st	W Rose	2	2
1980	USC	8–2–1	4–2–1	3rd		12	11
1981	USC	9–3	5–2	T–2nd	L Fiesta	13	14
1982	USC	8–3	5–2	T–3rd			15
USC Trojans (Pacific-10 Conference) (1993–1997)
1993	USC	8–5	6–2	T–1st	W Freedom	25
1994	USC	8–3–1	6–2	T–2nd	W Cotton	15	13
1995	USC	9–2–1	6–1–1	T–1st	W Rose	11	12
1996	USC	6–6	3–5	T–5th
1997	USC	6–5	4–4	T–5th
USC:		104–35–4	63–23–3
UNLV Rebels (Mountain West Conference) (1999–2004)
1999	UNLV	3–8	1–6	8th
2000	UNLV	8–5	4–3	3rd	W Las Vegas
2001	UNLV	4–7	3–4	T–5th
2002	UNLV	5–7	3–4	T–5th
2003	UNLV	6–6	2–5	T–7th
2004	UNLV	2–9	1–6	8th
UNLV:		28–42	14–28
Total:		132–77–4
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

See also

• Legends Poll

External links

• John Robinson at the College Football Hall of Fame
• John Robinson at the College Football Data Warehouse
• John Robinson at Pro-Football-Reference.com