Robinson to square off against an old friend

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1999 | 10:37 a.m.

It will be the battle of former USC coaches Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium when Ted Tollner's San Diego State Aztecs face John Robinson's UNLV Rebels.

Together, the two spent 16 years patrolling the sidelines as head coach for the Trojans. Saturday afternoon, about the same time USC is trying to snap a record eight-game losing streak to crosstown rival UCLA at the Los Angeles Coliseum, Tollner and Robinson face off for the first time head-to-head in a college game.

The two have a lot more in common than just their Trojan coaching legacies. Tollner was offensive coordinator and running backs coach at USC under Robinson in 1982 and then replaced him as head coach a year later when Robinson took an NFL coaching job with the Los Angeles Rams.

"I was instrumental in getting him hired (at USC)," Robinson said. "President (James) Zumberge asked for my imput and asked me what I thought. I told him that if he decided to hire someone from my staff, then Ted should be the guy."

Ironcially, Tollner got the job over another former Robinson assistant ... Paul Hackett. Hackett, the current Southern Cal coach, was then an assistant with the Cleveland Browns and, until recently anyway, many Trojan alums complained he should have gotten the job.

Tollner compiled just a 26-20-1 record at USC following Robinson but directed the team to three bowl berths, including a 20-17 upset of Ohio State in the 1985 Rose Bowl. He also was credited with helping re-stock a Trojan football program that had been seriously effected by NCAA sanctions that were handed down for ticket scalping in Robinson's final year. Among Tollner's top recruits were Rodney Peete, Tim McDonald and Dave Cadigan.

"I just thought he was a mature guy who understood the game and the detail of the game," Robinson said.

Robinson and Tollner got together to talk about their old Heritage Hall times at the Mountain West Conference's media day back in July. The topic of Saturday's game never was brought up.

"No, I don't think so," Robinson said. "We haven't really discussed that. We had a drink and just sat around and talked, but the subject of the game never really came up."

And until a reporter brought up the subject on Monday, Robinson said he really hadn't put much thought into this weekend's coaching matchup.

"He's your friend but when you walk on the field you don't really even think about him, really," Robinson said. "You think more about the way he and his staff coaches certain things."

* VAUGHAN OUT: Robinson said junior quarterback Jason Vaughan, still bothered by the side effects from a concussion suffered on Oct. 23 against BYU and aggravated a week later at New Mexico, would sit out Saturday's game against San Diego State.

"I think we're going to wait one more week for Jason to come back," Robinson said.

Vaughan, who did some light throwing at Sunday night's workout, said he is still plagued by dizzy spells and headaches.

* GREER HONORED: Starting tackle John Greer has been named to the 1999 GTE Academic All-District VIII football team as picked by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The 6-5, 290-pound junior from Apple Valley (Calif.) High School, a former walk-on who has started 30 of his 31 career games, has a 3.50 grade point average and is majoring in finance. He was an All-WAC Academic selection as a sophomore and a member of the Rebel Academic Top 30.

The District VIII team consists of schools from the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.