Monday, September 27, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOE HAWK: Robinson makes humbling choice by stepping down

Facing third down-and-no explanation for a shocking 0-4 start this season, a corner blitz of personal and professional struggles bearing down on him, John Robinson made the smart football call Sunday, the only call that could save his dignity -- and his sanity:

He ate the ball.

He took the crushing hit. He took the humbling sack.

No desperate scrambling to make everyone believe his UNLV team could win seven straight games, earn a bowl bid, and thereby save his job as coach. No Hail Mary heave downfield of telling the public he needs just one more season -- the last of an extended seven-year contract -- to get the Rebels where they should be.

Rather than risk a foolish fumble or an ill-advised interception and give the opposition great field position, Robinson -- his pocket of grand expectations for the 2004 season unexpectedly and quickly breaking down around him -- knew what had to be done so that his team, his adopted second college program, would survive to see another series of downs.

He announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season.

Robinson wisely ate the ball -- before being advised to by this writer, before being forced to by his athletic director.

It was the call Robinson needed to make, and he knew it.

Robinson, college football's national coach of the year in 1979 after leading Southern California to an 11-0-1 record, cited three reasons for making the decision now:

-- The ongoing health problems of his wife, Linda.

-- The pressure building around a team that is one of only three in Division I-A -- the others being Duke and Idaho -- to be winless in its first four games.

-- The recognition that, at age 69, he has taken UNLV football as far as he is capable.

Robinson weighted the factors in that order -- family, team, then school. Not surprising, considering that's the way he lives his life.

But don't be fooled. It was the inexplicable failings of this year's team that hurried the decision.

While the Rebels were sizable underdogs in their first two games at nationally ranked Tennessee and Wisconsin, they were sizable favorites in their next two games -- a home-opening Mountain West Conference contest against Air Force, followed by Saturday night's nonconference game against Utah State at Sam Boyd Stadium.

UNLV looked abysmal offensively in losing to Air Force 27-10, and then dropped a mind-boggling 31-21 decision to Utah State, despite amassing 550 yards in total offense.

"Our start is hard on all of us -- hard on every player, every coach, everyone in our system. But it has to be the hardest on him," UNLV offensive coordinator Bruce Snyder said of his boss and friend of more than 40 years. "He just wants, terribly, for the team to do well. He was as passionate coming into this season as I've ever seen him."

Robinson maintains the passion is still there, and he's going to give it all he has over the team's final seven games to get things turned around. Dating back to the sixth game of the 2003 season, the Rebels have gone a woeful 2-9.

That was after UNLV stood a surprising 4-1 and was ranked 30th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll through the first five weeks of the '03 season.

Suddenly, the Rebels went from good to bad to, this season, worse.

Asked whether he would have tendered his resignation had the Rebels beaten Air Force and Utah State to stand at 2-2 entering Saturday's state rivalry game against UNR at Sam Boyd, Robinson replied, "I don't have the answer to that. But the issues that drive it would still be there."

Specifically, the cancer battle his wife has faced.

Robinson made it clear Sunday he was not looking for pity, not for himself or his wife. Professionally, Robinson, 26-37 at UNLV, is not due any when you consider that by the time his sixth season is complete, he will have been paid close to $3 million in salary and outside income.

However, from a personal standpoint, it is difficult not to feel sorry, first and foremost, for Robinson's wife, but also for the man whose devotion the past two years has been torn between his two great loves. Soon, appropriately, that devotion will have just one recipient.

"I think I've always been one to go on to whatever is next in life," said Robinson, suddenly looking and sounding 59 rather than the advanced 79 he looked and sounded like a day earlier. "My life right now is these next seven games, and these people that I associate with -- my players and coaches."

Sunday, in what had to be a gut-wrenching call to make, John Robinson ate the ball -- and swallowed his pride.

Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.