Columnist Steve Guiremand: Remember Robinson: So many great days

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 9:50 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

Here's to you, John Robinson.

I know you have given strict orders to everybody at UNLV to not make a big deal about your retirement. No ceremonies at the final home game. No special awards. No going-away presents.

The reason was simple. You didn't want to shift any any attention from your players on Senior Day.

It was their afternoon to garner the spotlight you said. After all, they were the ones who way back in January and February were meeting at 6:15 in the morning to run and sweat and run some more in easily your toughest and most well-attended off-season conditioning winters at UNLV ... well-attended except for one star defensive player who, ironically, recently shot off his mouth in the media about his team's supposed lack of conditioning.

You didn't need to have a parade in your honor because, unlike a lot of coaches who have won national championships and coached in NFL title games, your ego wouldn't allow it. Even when Dr. Carol Harter wanted to bestow the President's Medal to you before that last home game. Or at the Dec. 3 team banquet. You said you preferred to wait until graduation on Dec. 20 even if it meant sitting through four long hours of ceremonies.

"Most people who are legends get caught up with their ego," Ronnie Lott said this week about you. "But not John. He's not caught up with who he is."

Those of us who have been around your career from that start of your USC head coaching days back in 1976 can attest to that.

I'll never forget one my first assigments as a cub reporter for the Daily Trojan was to talk to John Robinson on national letter of intent signing day about his recruiting class.

As someone who had done just a handful of volleyball and track and field stories for the college paper, this was almost like being told to go interview the Pope about how he planned to conduct Christmas mass. There was no bigger coaching personality in Los Angeles at the time.

But even though it wasn't a major publication like Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times or the old Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, you patiently took your time to go over each name on the list with a brief assessment of each players strengths and weaknesses. And with players like Marcus Allen, Chip Banks, Byron Darby, Dennis Edwards, Roy Foster, Riki Gray, Joe Murray, Jeff Simmons, Charles Ussery and Timmy White on that list, I'd say it's fair to say there were a lot more strengths than weaknesses.

A few years later, I remember sitting up in the cheap seats at the Coliseum with good friend Mike Tenay --- you might know him for his pro wrestling announcing skills these days but he's also a talented sports writer --- questioning a certain head coach's wisdom for moving a fullback with average speed who seemed to have trouble making his cuts to the coveted USC tailback spot.

A year later, when Marcus Allen became the first back in college football history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season and set 14 NCAA records, I decided never to second guess you again when it came to your choice of running backs. Wise choice I believe.

When you came to UNLV in December of 1998 you inherited a program that was beyond bad. The Rebels had lost 16 consecutive games, most of which were over by halftime, and were 4-30 over a three-year stretch, including just 3-21 in Western Athletic Conference play.

Worse than the record were the facilities and fan interest. But then you hopped aboard, rallied the community and within two years had UNLV beating a storied SEC program like Arkansas by 17 points in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The Rebels, who hadn't been on national TV since 1994 before your arrival, now appeared once or twice a month. And thanks in large part to your fund-raising efforts, major improvements were made to the practice field, weight room and Sam Boyd Stadium. Team banquets are held at classy places like the Four Seasons Hotel. Perhaps more importantly, prep and junior college recruits around the country actually now know that there is more than just a men's basketball program on campus.

You poured your heart and soul ... literally ... into the job. People who thought you were coming to Las Vegas just to kick back and retire probably don't realize you worked twice as hard than you did at USC because you had to. You even took on athletic director duties for a while to try and make things work before a heart attack, combined with wife Linda's own health issues, finally forced you to take a step back and slow down a little.

You made sure local icons like the late Tom Wiesner would be remembered for their major contributions to the program by starting an award in his honor. And when things got tough, unlike some players on your team this year, you didn't pull out the old "I confess, he did it" line.

Things haven't gone as well as you hoped the past two seasons on the football field thanks in no small part to an unusually large amount of injuries. But it's a measure of just how far things have come in six years that, even in a bad season, UNLV defeated in-state rival Nevada-Reno for a record fifth time and won for the second consecutive time at BYU. And the Rebels also had the fans at Wisconsin very nervous about a second consecutive loss until a blocked field just before halftime.

Here's to you, John Robinson. College football and especially UNLV is a whole lot better off thanks to your contributions. You've been a class act.

Enjoy your retirement. You certainly have earned it.