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Former USC and Rams head coach John Robinson dies at 89 – Daily News

Harry November 12, 2024

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Rams fans hold a moment of silence for former USC and Rams head coach John Robinson on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Los Angeles Rams hosts the visiting Miami Dolphins in a National Football League (NFL) match. Robinson died Monday, he was 89. (Photo: Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES – In September 1978, Paul McDonald was a young USC quarterback with few starts under his belt, so John Robinson called a timeout and put his arm around him on the sideline.

As McDonald recalls it nearly 50 years later, the Trojans were locked in a battle with top-ranked Alabama. It was the high point of his life. USC needed a first down. And so enterprising head coach Robinson approached his quarterback, grabbed his shoulders and spun him around. Not towards the field. Towards the stands.

I wanted to say, McDonald recalled Robinson saying: Isn’t this wonderful, Paul?

“I think he really loved the ride,” McDonald reflected.

On Monday, Robinson, the legendary head coach who loved the journey and had a unique ability to make those around him love it too, died at the age of 89. Best known for claiming a national championship at USC during the 1978 season and later serving as the all-time winningest coach in Los Angeles Rams history, he was widely loved by a legion of players and coaches alike. Troy greats are flooding social media and press releases Monday night.

“He was the best,” said Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott, who played for Robinson at USC from 1978-1980. he wrote on Twitter.

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to live my dream.” wrote former USC receiver Keyshawn JohnsonHe played for Robinson a second time at USC in the 1990s.

“Words are inadequate for a person who affects your life so much; You can’t even describe it,” former USC Heisman winner Marcus Allen said in a statement via USC. “John’s impact on his players, especially me, is profound and profound. “Getting to know him was life changing.”

Robinson died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, of complications from pneumonia, USC said. He is survived by his wife, Beverly, daughters Terry Medina and Lynne Sierra, sons David and Chris, stepchildren Jennifer Bohle and Jeffrey Ezell, and ten grandchildren.

Robinson was born in Chicago and raised in the Bay Area; where he attended John Madden’s prep school. Robinson played tight end at Oregon before moving on to a long coaching career. After serving as USC’s offensive coordinator under John McKay and working under Madden with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders the next year, Robinson was hired at USC immediately following McKay’s tenure to pen his own spell in Southern California.

During his junior year, Robinson received a transfer from East Los Angeles College named Lynn Cain. He wanted Cain to play full-back. Cain, who weighs about 205 pounds, did not. Robinson told him about his experience taking over USC’s program, which led the Trojans to an 11-1 record in his first season in 1976. He had decided that he wouldn’t change the pre-existing plan anywhere – defense, offense, special teams – and I would just learn and tweak.

Cain realized that Robinson had sacrificed his own philosophy for the good of the USC program. So Cain did the same.

“He was ready to get in there and get dirty with you,” Cain said. “And that helped me change my perspective on taking this position.”

They claimed national championships in 1978 and went undefeated the following year. The practices were “wars,” as Cain describes them. McDonald said Robinson occasionally kicked players out of practice when he felt they were falling behind. McDonald recalled them going to the auditorium uninvited and hosting player-led team meetings to regroup.

“He knew how to bring out the best in people,” McDonald said of Robinson.

Former USC defensive coordinator Keith Burns said he also fully encourages his players’ individuality. He only cared about “your football side,” as Cain emphasized. And McDonald’s teams at USC faced a dilemma: practices warsyes, but it’s also a lot of fun, with McDonald entering the mix himself to point out the proper angle to block or tackle the running back. During two rehired stints, first from 1976-82, then from 1993-97, he won the third-most games of any coach in USC’s long history; his teams were built on the strong ground play of Heisman winners like Allen and Heisman. Charles White, McDonald is a lover of toughness.

“You could run the football,” Burns said. “And defensively you were going to have to stop the run. He was proud of himself and his teams. “He built us on this.”

Not everything was perfect. Robinson’s Trojans received a one-year bowl suspension from the then-Pac-10 in 1980. 34 players nearly received credit for a course they did not attend. Them Banned from bowl games and television appearances in 1983 and 1984 for a ticket sales scheme that pays players in cash. Robinson’s second run at Troy ended in disappointment, with two consecutive six-win seasons followed by one. shooting over the answering machine.

Still, Burns said he loved USC through and through.

And pieces of the Trojan legacy followed Robinson at every stop along the way. He later became one of the greatest coaches in Rams history after his first stint at USC, struggling for years with the San Francisco 49ers for control of the NFC West in the 1980s and frequently tabbed his former players for roster spots — take White or Cain . He also coached at UNLV for six seasons following his tenure with the Rams and also served a year as the school’s athletic director in 2002-03. Burns recalled hosting a fundraiser that year, and both Allen and Lott came even though they had never been to UNLV.

Even his subsequent return to the college ranks and winning a national championship at LSU in 2019 as former USC coach Ed Orgeron’s senior advisor came with a Trojan connection.

“He had such dedication to USC’s top pick and his former players that he was always trying to make everyone better,” Burns said.