Robinson, Iacenda to meet again after four long years

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 | 9:39 a.m.

New Mexico running back Ted Iacenda admits it will be a little odd looking across the field on Saturday night at University Stadium and seeing John Robinson pacing the UNLV sidelines.

"It's going to be kind of weird," the 6-0, 230-pound Iacenda said. "But I'm looking forward to coming over and saying hello to him after the game."

It's been a long and bumpy road to Saturday's Mountain West Conference matchup for both Iacenda and Robinson.

Just four years ago, both were on top of their respective football worlds. Robinson had just coached USC to a Rose Bowl victory over Northwestern. Iacenda, a prep All-American at Hart High School in Newhall, Calif., had just finished leading his team to the CIF Division II title with 2,400 all-purpose yards and 39 touchdowns. His 604 career points ranked him second in California prep history. He also excelled in the classroom with an SAT score of over 1,300.

Although everyone from Penn State to Notre Dame was recruiting him, Iacenda elected to stay close to home and play for Robinson at USC.

That's where things turned for the worse for both parties.

Robinson, in a power struggle with athletic director Mike Garrett, eventually was fired after back-to-back rebuilding seasons of 6-6 and 6-5. But that paled in comparison to what Iacenda went through.

Considered something of the All-American boy-next-door type, Iacenda found himself accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl he had been dating during an overnight trip to Las Vegas with some friends in the summer of 1996 just prior to the start of his first fall practice.

Although a judge would later throw out the charge some 18 months later, Iacenda had trouble dealing with the cloud that was constantly hanging over his head and the whispers behind his back from people he had considered his friends.

"I just had to withdraw myself from everybody," he said. "When something like that happens, you get a real sense of who you can trust and also who you can't."

"I think it did hurt him a lot coming in, emotionally," Robinson said. "(The legal problems) made it difficult for him to concentrate; he wasn't physically ready. He was out of shape."

Iacenda continued to try to play football for the Trojans during his legal battle, but was plagued by shoulder problems. He had to have arthroscopic surgery on both shoulders following the 1997 season.

By then Robinson was gone and Paul Hackett was in.

"I wanted to leave when Robinson left, but no one wants a transfer with two shoulder surgeries," Iacenda said. "It hurt me big-time because I had to stay (at USC) and then miss all of spring football."

He still started the first six games of the 1998 season for Hackett, gaining 38 yards on 8 carries and also catching 6 passes for 36 yards. But the fullback position in Hackett's offense demanded much more blocking than Iacenda was accustomed to.

"It's a whole different position for Coach Hackett than Coach Robinson," Iacenda said. "Coach Robinson's style of offense involves running and passing to the fullback a lot more. For Coach Hackett, it's basically like being another offensive guard."

The frustrated Iacenda decided to transfer from USC. Because he was still plagued by the bitter memories of his sexual assault case, the NCAA granted Iacenda a rare waiver enabling him to transfer to another Division I school without having to sit out a season.

Although many assumed Iacenda would naturally follow Robinson to UNLV, he decided to move to Albuquerque.

"I really couldn't (go to UNLV) because I had a lot of restrictions," Iacenda said. "SC really dragged its feet with trying to get me that waiver. And I wanted to be in school by the spring semester. The only school who waited for me was New Mexico."

"I didn't really try and get him," Robinson said. "I said, 'Hey, if this is a choice of yours, let's talk about it.' But it was probably a pretty good choice for him not to come here after the problem he had here."

Iacenda agreed.

"That was the main reason (for not coming to UNLV)," he said. "I mean, I love Coach Robinson. But Vegas for me is a tough city to go to after what happened. I kind of wanted to go a different direction."

Despite his new surroundings, Iacenda, who had has rushed for 64 yards on 15 carries so far this season, admits he still has trouble putting that past behind him.

"I think about it a lot," he said. "I try and move past it every day. There's not a day that goes by that I wonder what if something had been different."

* REBEL NOTES: Robinson was not overly optimistic that star tailback Jeremi Rudolph would be able to bounce back from the groin injury suffered against BYU and play Saturday in Albuquerque. "It's very uncertain at this point," he said. Junior fullback James Wofford, who rushed for a team-high 816 yards and five touchdowns in 1998, will work out at his old tailback spot in practice this week just in case Rudolph can't play.