Coaching legend John Robinson joins LSU coaching staff

BATON ROUGE – John Robinson, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and longtime head coach at Southern Cal and the Los Angeles Rams, is joining the LSU football staff as a senior consultant to head coach Ed Orgeron, the university announced on Monday.

Robinson served as head coach at Southern Cal from 1976-1982 and then again from 1993-97 when he led the Trojans to the 1978 national title and to five Pac-10 championships. In between his two stints at Southern Cal, Robinson was the head coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, leading that franchise to the playoffs six times, including two appearances in the NFC Championship Game.

“I want to welcome Coach Robinson and his wife Miss Beverly to the LSU Family,” Orgeron said. “Coach has been a great friend and mentor to me and he will be a very valuable resource for us in growing our championship culture at LSU.”

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Robinson will assist Orgeron as a consultant to daily planning of practice, personnel and game planning.

Robinson has an overall college coaching record of 132-77-4 and a NFL regular-season record of 75-68. He went 4-6 in the NFL Playoffs.

A member of the 2009 class of the College Football Hall of Fame, Robinson led Southern California to a 12-1 record and the UPI National Championship after winning the Rose Bowl in 1978. Under Robinson, Southern Cal beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl during the 1976 season, finishing 11-1 overall and ranked No. 2 in the final Associated Press poll.

In 1978, the Trojans went 12-1, winning their final eight games, which included a 17-10 victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans claimed the UPI National Championship that year and finished No. 2 in the AP poll.

Robinson was on the opposing sidelines in Tiger Stadium in 1979 for USC’s 17-12 win over the Tigers in what many have called one of the best games ever played on the LSU campus. The Trojans went on to post a 11-0-1 mark that year capping the season with a 17-16 victory over No. 1-ranked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Robinson was named National Coach of the Year in 1979.

During his second stint with the Trojans, he led USC to Pac-10 titles in 1993 and 1995. The 1995 team posted a 9-2-1 overall mark and beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl for his fifth win in that prestigious bowl game.

In 12 years at Southern Cal, Robinson guided the Trojans to a 104-35-4 overall mark, leading his team to four Rose Bowl wins and a Cotton Bowl victory. Robinson’s 8-1 bowl record ranks first all-time in college football history in terms of winning percentage at .888.

At USC, Robinson had 18 players earn first team All-America honors with two of them – running back Charles White in 1979 and running back Marcus Allen in 1981 – winning the Heisman Trophy. He also coached 1979 Lombardi Award winner Brad Budde, who also earned Academic All-America honors that year.

Robinson took over as head coach at UNLV in 1999, leading the Rebels to a win in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2000. He earned Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in 2000 and remains the second-winningest coach in UNLV history.

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