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I got to hear Coach Robinson speak in Little Rock on August 27, 2012.

Little Rock Touchdown Club Week 2: Hall Of Fame Coach John Robinson

by Zack Veddern on Aug 28, 2012 9:07 AM CDT

 

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When former USC, LA Rams, and UNLV coach John Robinson took the stage before the Little Rock Touchdown Club, he was greeted with a standing ovation and many laughs followed as he joked about college football, John Madden, and recalled adventures of old times with different teams. His reception at Monday’s luncheon was a far cry from that of his last visit to Little Rock. In 2001, he coached the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels against Arkansas in a defensive slugfest that wouldn’t be decided until the very last drive. Arkansas, coached by Houston Nutt, had amassed an abysmal 100 total yards of offense, and faced a 10-7 defecit as they forced a 4th down punting situation.

“I made one of the worst coaching errors I’ve ever made,” Robinson explained, after benching the starting punter, he put in a freshman to punt from the 50. “We just punt the ball down, and we win the game!”. Much to the dismay of Coach Robinson, the snap went through the young punter’s hands and off his facemask on to the ground where the Arkansas defense recovered, and the offense would score to win the game 14-10. “If I’d had a gun, I’d have committed suicide.”

The Hall of Fame coach received many laughs from the misfortunes he recalled, yet the crowd admired the legendary figure that stood before them. Robinson coached at USC from 1976-1982 and again from 1993-1997, where he won 4 Rose Bowls, shared a National Title and finished with a record of 104-35-4. He went on to coach the L.A. Rams, leading them to two NFC Championship appearances, both of which resulted in losses to eventual Super Bowl champions. After failing to recruit the highly touted Eric Dickerson to USC, apparenlty having not paid enough for his services, Robinson drafted him with the Ram’s first pick in 1983

Coach Robinson also coached USC against the Hogs, going 1-1 in Little Rock as the Trojan’s offensive coordinator under coach John McKay. Robinson expressed his admiration for former Arkansas coach and athletic director, Frank Broyles, referring to him as “legendary” and his slant defense “revolutionary”. When discussing the Hogs, he said that he’d hoped to go to Miami and watch USC play Arkansas. “I’m already wearing red, so depending on the outcome, I can pretend to be one of you guys!” Joking aside, Robinson predicted that the SEC would once again be represented in the BCS National Title game, against USC or Oregon, his alma mater.

This week’s guest was an absolute delight to hear, and next week’s should be no different as Howard Schnellenberger, another Hall of Fame coach joins the club. Schnellenberger is responsible for establishing the system that ascended the University of Miami into the college football elite. He coached the Baltimore Colts, served as offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, as well as coaching Miami, Louisville, Oklahoma and FAU during a career that lasted over 50 years. Dont miss the opportunity to hear a legend speak next Tuesday at 11:00 for lunch at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. Lunch is $15.00 for members and $25.00 for non-members, however a one time fee of $50.00 will earn you an annual membership. For more details, visit http://www.LRTouchdown.com.

John Robinson did not have much success at UNLV. Here are the results against Tennessee in 2004:

By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS
AP Sports Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)Brent Schaeffer was a little nervous making history in his collegiate debut before more than 108,000 fans.

After a fumble early in the game, Tennessee’s quarterback settled down and ran for one touchdown and threw for another in the 14th-ranked Volunteers’ 42-17 win over UNLV on Sunday night.

Schaeffer was the first true freshman to start an opener in the Southeastern Conference since Georgia’s John Rauch in 1945.

Fellow freshman Erik Ainge, bracketed with Schaeffer at No. 1 on the depth chart, passed for two touchdowns.

“I had a couple of butterflies, but after those first couple of plays, I felt good,” Schaeffer said.

Both showed off their special skills: Schaeffer’s elusive running, and Ainge’s strong arm.

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was pleased by all of it.

“That’s really about as good as you could hope for,” Fulmer said. “I think the team around them lifted them up. … I don’t think there was pressure for them to win the game.”

Schaeffer fumbled to end his first series, but he ran for a 1-yard touchdown in his second series.

On third-and-1, Schaeffer got past a defender in the backfield, rolled right, dodged more defenders and ran into the end zone to give Tennessee a 7-3 lead.

After the fumble, Schaeffer got some advice from offensive coordinator Randy Sanders.

“He told me to forget it and play like it never happened,” Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer went 7-of-10 for 123 yards and ran seven times for 29 yards.

Ainge came in for the Volunteers’ third possession and capped an 80-yard drive with a 42-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Fayton.

Ainge’s best effort came in the second half, when he completed a 3-yard pass to Tony Brown for a touchdown at the end of a 13-play, 82-yard drive.

Ainge was 7-of-9 for 69 yards in the drive and finished 10-of-17 for 118 yards. He said he didn’t mind splitting time with Schaeffer.

“I’m not worried about how many passes I have as long as we get the win,” he said.

The freshmen fared better in their debuts than Tennessee’s defense, which, at times, had trouble stopping UNLV’s tailbacks. The Rebels, who have lost four of six openers under coach John Robinson, rolled up 164 yards on the ground.

Dominique Dorsey had 18 carries for 121 yards and a 17-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He went over 100 yards for the sixth time in his career.

Dyante Perkins ran 3 yards for another score in the third quarter.

Tennessee lost starting tailback Cedric Houston to a right ankle injury in the third quarter. He rushed for 97 yards. Gerald Riggs filled in and finished with 79 yards on 13 carries, including a 3-yard touchdown run. Corey Larkins added a 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

UNLV led 3-0 early in the first quarter, but the Vols responded with 28 straight points to put the game out of reach. The Rebels avoided a rout similar to the 62-3 thrashing they took in their only other meeting with Tennessee, in 1996 in Knoxville.

UNLV dropped to 3-13 against ranked opponents after winning their last two games against then No. 14 Wisconsin and then-No. 13 Colorado State last season.

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Related posts:

Alabama Football-1978 Poll Controversy involving Alabama and Southern Cal

2005 USC Trojans vs Arkansas

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I really enjoyed Robinson talk on 8-27-12.

Robinson talks past UA, USC matchups

JEFF HALPERN

Former football coach John Robinson was 3-2 in his career at Southern California and UNLV against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Steve Sullivan, Wally Hall and Jim Harris talk at Little Rock Touchdown Club on 11-28-11

Jim Harris: Former Southern Cal Coach John Robinson Wins In Little Rock

8/27/2012 at 1:59pm

College Football Hall of Fame coach John Robinson recalled some highlights of his career for the Little Rock Touchdown Club.

Longtime Arkansas fans no doubt remember when College Football Hall of Famer John Robinson brought his UNLV program to Little Rock and War Memorial Stadium to open the 2001 season. In a game that may have set offensive football back a half-century Arkansas pulled out a 14-10 win on a Thursday night ESPN telecast.

We’ve covered some of the particulars here. Houston Nutt managed to play four quarterbacks, none of whom were named Matt Jones (who sat the entire game on the bench), in the first half. The Hogs barely had 100 yards of offense until the final minute, and it was unlikely they could drive 80 yards in that last minute to pull out the win.

UNLV had to help them out.

“I made one of the biggest coaching blunders of my career that night,” the likeable Robinson recalled for the crowd Monday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s weekly meeting at the Embassy Suites ballroom.

Robinson’s regular punter wasn’t having the greatest of nights, but his replacement was a mere kid “who looked about 14,” Robinson said, and the coach was willing to give him a chance to kick the ball away with UNLV at midfield. Even a 30-yard punt would have put the inept Arkansas offense behind the proverbial 8-ball.

Sure enough, the punter let the snap go through his hands and hit him in the helmet, and Arkansas took over in Rebels’ territory. The Hogs managed to cover the short distance with just 18 seconds to spare as Cedric Cobbs ran around right end untouched from one yard.

“If I had had a gun, I’d had committed suicide,” Robinson cracked.

That wasn’t Robinson’s only trip to Little Rock until Monday. He was offensive coordinator for Southern Cal in 1972 when the Trojans ruined a promising Arkansas season from the start, pulling away from a 3-all halftime tie to roll 31-10, the first of 12 straight wins.

“That was maybe the best Southern Cal team they ever had,” sad Robinson, who had the dependable Mike Rae at quarterback and the likes of future NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann at receiver.

Two years later, Southern Cal was expected to contend for a national title, while Arkansas was nowhere to be seen in the national polls, having hit the low ebb of Frank Broyles’ coaching career. But Arkansas had a fanatical defensive effort led by Dennis Winston’s 22 tackles from the linebacker spot and the Hogs shocked the Trojans and head coach John McKay 22-7.

“We came in here ranked and got the hell kicked out of us,” the salty Robinson said. “The entire coaching staff was fired on the way home, three different times.”

But Southern Cal, then led by quarterback Pat Haden and running back/kick returner Anthony Davis, didn’t let the loss destroy its season. The Trojans finished 11-1-1, rallied from a 24-0 deficit against Notre Dame to win 55-24, and claimed another national championship for McKay.

They’d win a share in 1978 for Robinson, who took over as head coach in 1976 after one season as a coordinator in 1975 with his childhood buddy John Madden at Oakland. As USC head coach, Robinson would feature Heisman Trophy winners Charles White and Marcus Allen. Robinson twice reached the NFC championship with the Los Angeles Rams and running back Eric Dickerson.

Robinson remembered recruiting Dickerson out of high school for Southern Cal. The prep star out of Sealy, Texas, had appeared to have a splendid visit in Los Angeles and had met Allen and other Trojan greats. But when Robinson and an assistant coach went to Sealy to visit Dickerson, they pulled up next to a Pontiac Trans-Am and Dickerson’s mother was sitting in the car.

“You think that’s a bad sign?” Robinson recalled telling his assistant. Robinson didn’t land Dickerson out of high school, he made the SMU All-American a first-round draft pick when he took over the Rams.

“He never got hurt,” Robinson said, “and we gave him the ball 30 or 35 times a game. Nowadays, a guy runs for 7 yards and taps his helmet, wanting to come out … I gave Ricky Bell the ball 53 times one game at Southern Cal. The Humane Society called me after that.”

John McKay and Frank Broyles were close friends, hence the three games that Southern Cal and Arkansas played in 1972-74. In fact, it almost seems hard to imagine now that Arkansas was able to lure USC to Little Rock twice vs. only one return game.

Robinson remembered Broyles, the former Hog head coach and athletic director, meeting with McKay and him to show his then cutting-edge slant defense that had troubled USC so much in that 1974 upset.

“It was a wonderful education for a young coach,” said Robinson, who these days spends some Sundays as an NFL analysis on radio. “Coaches back then were just guys. That’s how Bo Schembechler and I were. Joe Paterno was like that. They didn’t have an airplane to take them everywhere. They wore tennis shoes and sweatshirts. Of course, we were making about $10,000 then.”

Robinson ranked his 1978-79 Trojans among the best teams he coached, but for opponents he put the 49ers of the 1980s and the Bears’ 1985 team as the best among the NFL opponents. “Joe Montana [49ers quarterback] was the best player I saw. He was the ultimate competitor,” Robinson said. “Bill Walsh was a great coach. A great player has a to have a great coach or a great system to work in. That’s what ends up making him great.”

Robinson said the Penn State scandal and what it did to Joe Paterno’s legacy “was such a tragedy,” but he assured the Touchdown Club crowd that “a lot of things about college football are better than they’ve ever been. Southern Cal will have 17 seniors this season and will graduate every one of those players.”

After his Club talk, he told the a few media members that he felt the SEC would again have one of the teams in the national title game, with perhaps Southern Cal, Oregon or Oklahoma making it as well. His wife is an LSU graduate and Tiger fan, and she’s made sure Robinson has a healthy dose of what football is like in the South.

In two years, college football is expected to have a four-team playoff. Eight teams would be too many and would “break” some of the fans who would want to travel to the games, Robinson said. A playoff in the 1970s might have given Robinson one ore two more national titles to his credit.

“Well, in 1979 we lost a game, and Alabama didn’t. Really, what was important to us back then was making the Rose Bowl, like for Alabama it was making the Sugar Bowl,” Robinson said. “We didn’t really think as much about winning a national title as much as making the Rose Bowl.”

Email: jharris@abpg.com. Also follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360

Steve Sullivan, Wally Hall and Jim Harris talk at Little Rock Touchdown Club on 11-28-11

2006 USC Trojans vs Arkansas