Son finds home with dad

Steve Guiremand

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

He has coached under the likes of Bruce Snyder and Gary Moeller. But the head coach that new UNLV tight ends assistant David Robinson is forever linked with is his current one -- John Robinson.

That's because David, a former tight end at Long Beach State in the mid-'80s, is the son of the UNLV head football coach and athletic director. He said being the son of a coach who won a national championship at USC and directed the Los Angeles Rams to two National Football Conference title games has its good points and bad points.

David Robinson, who was an assistant at USC for his father from 1993-97, has had to deal with the whispers and speculation that the only reason he got the job was because of his dad. And that topic no doubt will pop up again, now that he has rejoined his famous father at UNLV after spending last season as the defensive coordinator for the now-defunct Cal State Northridge football program.

"That's definitely there," David Robinson said. "You just can't be sensitive about it. People are going to think what they want. You've just got to go out and work hard.

"I don't feel insecure about my coaching ability. It would be one thing if I was just hanging on out there. But I have confidence in myself and my coaching ability."

Besides, David Robinson's track record, especially as a tight ends coach his first three years at USC, speaks for itself.

Three tight ends he coached for the Trojans -- John Allred, Johnny McWilliams and Brad Banta -- are all still playing in the NFL. Allred, a second round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1997 who is expected to play for the expansion Houston Texans next fall, called Robinson "the best tight ends coach I played for" following his senior year at USC.

Robinson switched to linebackers coach his final two years at USC and recruited and coached 1999 Butkus Award winner Chris Claiborne as well as current New Orleans Saints star Sammy Knight.

"He's great with detail," John Robinson said. "I think he's a real good addition to our program. I think our staff likes him and recognizes, 'Hey, this guy is a football guy.' "

David Robinson's first coaching job was as a graduate assistant to Moeller at the University of Michigan where he worked with tight ends and offensive tackles. He spent another year as a volunteer defensive line assistant at Cal for Snyder.

He has spent the last three years as a defensive assistant for former Rebel assistant Jeff Kearin at Northridge.

"I've been away from offense for a while and it's kind of nice to get back to it," David Robinson said. "It's been fun. We have a good group of kids to work with."

Senior DeJhown Mandley returns to start for the third straight year and will be backed up by promising redshirt freshman Michael Freund and junior Ryan Clifford.

"DeJhown is one of the veterans and leaders on the team," David Robinson said. "I think he's done a good job of trying to get better each day. I think he's ready to have a great year for us."

Nepotism charges aside, David Robinson said the pluses definitely outweighed the minuses of being the son of a famous football coach.

"It was really great," he said. "When I was a little kid and my dad was an assistant at Oregon, we'd have guys like Dan Fouts and Ahmad Rashad stop by the house. When he went to USC, I was Dennis Thurman and Ronnie Lott's shadow. Anywhere they went, I'd go, too. I'd hang out in their dorm with them. Eat with them. It was great. I got to learn a lot of football being around it every day like that."