Robinson, John A.
Football
b. July 25, 1935, Chicago, IL
An end at the University of Oregon, Robinson served in the Army after graduating in 1958 and then became an assistant coach at his alma mater. He then spent three seasons as an assistant at the University of Southern California and one season on the staff of the NFL's Oakland Raiders.
In 1976, Robinson was named head coach at Southern California. He had a 67-14-0 record in 7 seasons there and guided the school to victories in the Rose Bowl in 1976, 1978, and 1979, and in the Bluebonnet Bowl in 1977.
Robinson went to the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams as head coach in 1983 and was named the league's coach of the year after taking the Rams to the playoffs in his first season. As he had in the college ranks, Robinson emphasized the running attack and defense to win games.
The Rams made the playoffs six times in his nine seasons, but Robinson was replaced after the team went only 3-13 in 1991.
After a year as a television analyst, Robinson returned to Southern Cal and remained there through 1997, winning three more bowl games. Then he retired for a year, but took over at Nevada-Las Vegas in 1999. In September of 2004, he announced that he would retire at the end of the season.