Robinson fills coaching position, meets the players

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 | 3:17 a.m.

It was a good news/bad news kind of day for new UNLV head football coach John Robinson on Tuesday.

The good news is that Oregon State defensive line coach Jeff McInerney accepted Robinson's offer to become the Rebels' defensive coordinator.

The bad news was that bright, young Notre Dame quarterback coach Mike Sanford turned down Robinson's offer to become offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at UNLV.

"I think it was a family thing," Robinson said of Sanford's decision to remain in South Bend for a third season. "Notre Dame is a good place. It was fun to contemplate."

A major factor in the decision was the fact Sanford's son, Michael, would have had to attend his third high school in four years. The 6-4, 170-pound junior attended Los Alamitos, Calif., High School as a freshman before switching to Indiana prep powerhouse Mishawaka Penn for his sophomore and junior years.

Sanford, busy recruiting in Southern California on Tuesday night, was unavailable for comment. But his wife, Melinda, said the decision "might have been a whole lot easier to make if the opening had developed next year."

McInerney flew into Las Vegas late Tuesday afternoon and dined with Robinson and his wife, Linda, at Piero's.

The 38-year-old native of Bethlehem, Pa., was Robinson's defensive line coach at USC for two years (1996-97) and helped tutor Darrell Russell, the No. 2 overall pick of the 1997 draft by the Oakland Raiders. Another Trojan, defensive tackle Matt Keneley, was a seventh-round pick of the New York Giants that same year.

Prior to his stints at USC and Oregon State, McInerney was a defensive coordinator at Duke (1994-95) and a defensive ends coach at Rice (1992-93). He was an assistant on three teams that won NCAA football championships -- Division II champ Troy State (1984 and 1987) and Division 1-AA champ Georgia Southern (1990).

Two other members of Robinson's staff, linebackers coach Joe Barry and wide receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander, were on hand for Robinson's first team meeting Tuesday afternoon at the Lied Athletic Complex.

The upbeat meeting lasted about 40 minutes and featured several loud outbursts of laughter that could be heard outside the auditorium.

"It was a good feeling, a good first impression," wide receiver Len Ware said. "He (Robinson) came out and really grabbed our attention. I mean, I feel motitivated to go out and play right now."

"He's going to bust our (butts), make us work hard and get us going," said freshman defensive end La'anui Correa. "He just told us to be prepared when we get back (from Christmas break) for everything. He's going to get us quicker, get us stronger, get us faster, work on our balance ... everything."

"(The meeting) was pretty exciting," added Freshman All-American linebacker James Sunia. "He told us straight up what he's going to do and what he's going to change around. I'm really fired up. I can't wait for the season to start next year."

Robinson said he just gave his new team "an overview" of what to expect.

"When they come back in January, we're going to start a weight program that will be probably more aggressive than what they're used to," he said, adding that the start of spring practice "would be pushed back as far as possible" while his new staff gets organized.

And what about all the laughter?

"Part of this whole thing is just to relax and get some more confidence," Robinson said.

Robinson interviewed about half of the holdover assistants from Jeff Horton's staff before Tuesday's team meeting. He had to rush to a faculty Christmas party afterward and then put down a bid on a house in Green Valley later in the evening.