Columnist Dean Juipe: Robinson enjoying dual roles

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, June 11, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Congenial and responsive, he's the antithesis of his predecessor and a delight in social settings.

John Robinson is just what UNLV needed as athletic director: someone with some spunk and the magnetism it takes to attract a crowd.

And now that he has spent six months on the job, he says those in the community who felt he was biting off more than he could chew -- he is, of course, still the Rebels' head football coach -- will ultimately be proven wrong.

"I'm healthy and feeling great and having a ball," Robinson said Monday at an informal session in which he revealed a new internet ticketing process for university events as well as an expanded marketing plan designed to lure families to UNLV games. The latter, under the Family Fun Zone heading, is an idea credited to Robinson and is designed to provide families with reduced ticket pricing and special seating benefits.

But I wanted to ask him about juggling roles, and, to a lesser extent, about the school's meandering baseball and softball programs, both of which recently concluded so-so seasons.

In baseball's case, Jim Schlossnagle has only a single season under his belt and his 30-30 record can be deemed satisfactory for someone who stepped into a disheveled situation. But veteran softball coach Shan McDonald's team went 30-34 and has now strung together six consecutive losing seasons, the most recent of which was spent in virtual isolation at a new stadium.

"All coaches know that if you don't do well, you're in jeopardy," Robinson said. "If we have a program that has been struggling, as softball has, I want to know what we can do to help.

"Shan and I have talked. She's signed a great young pitcher and I'm comfortable we're starting to put her in the environment she needs to succeed. It takes more than a year after you get a new stadium to begin recruiting the type of kids you really need."

OK, she's safe. And so is Robinson when it comes to splitting his time between his football and A.D. duties.

"I'm learning to compartmentalize," he said. "I can't sit around for hours and just talk football with someone, like I once did.

"I think I'm learning about the differences in the process. In football, if you have a problem you meet, you talk, you find a solution and you hope it works in the next game. As athletic director, things move a little quicker and I've found I'm spending a lot of time working on a greater fund-raising program, or combining services with the Thomas & Mack or looking for a better way to achieve customer service.

"But it's all getting easier for me and I think it will continue to get easier as I go."

He has no intention of divesting himself of his football responsibilities, despite the occasional rumor to the contrary. Fact is, every time an unemployed football coach is seen in Las Vegas there's speculation that he's here to sign a deal that would have him replace Robinson within the next year or two.

But, at 66 years old, he says stepping aside hasn't entered his mind even if he is the only major-college football coach doubling as an A.D.

"The guy who's going to replace me is only 19 years old," Robinson said with a chuckle, effectively laying the subject to rest.