The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
A veteran of 36 years of coaching who has served as a defensive coordinator on two Super Bowl winning teams, and the Longhorns’ 2004 Rose Bowl Championship squad, Greg Robinson was named to his second stint at Texas in September 2013.
Robinson, who had been a football analyst with Longhorns for two months prior to being named defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, most recently served in coaching as the defensive coordinator at Michigan for two seasons (2009-10) after spending four years as the head coach at Syracuse (2005-08).
The architect of a defense that led the Denver Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1997 and ’98, Robinson was Texas’ co-defensive coordinator with Duane Akina, along with being linebackers coach, for the 2004 season. That year, the Longhorns went 11-1 and won their first BCS Bowl and Rose Bowl Championship with a victory over Michigan. Texas held its opponents to 320.1 yards (23rd NCAA) and 17.9 points per game (18th NCAA), while ranking 16th in rushing defense (107.4 ypg) that season.
A veteran of 14 seasons coaching in the NFL, including 10 as a defensive coordinator, Robinson is in his 36th year of coaching either at the NFL or college level. He spent his first 15 seasons as a college coach.
Prior to his first stint with Texas, Robinson spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, where he helped turn around a team that was 7-9 in 2000, the year before he arrived, into a unit that posted the second-best record in the NFL in 2003 (13-3).
As a defensive coordinator, Robinson’s aggressive, attacking Chief’s unit produced 70 sacks and forced 68 turnovers (43 interceptions/25 fumble recoveries) in his last two seasons. During that time, Kansas City posted a 21-11 record.
In 2003, Robinson’s Chiefs’ defense produced 36 sacks (T-6th/AFC), 25 interceptions (2nd AFC/3rd NFL) and forced 37 turnovers (T-3rd AFC/5th NFL). Kansas City led the NFL in turnover margin with a +19 advantage in that category.
Robinson established his reputation as a tremendous defensive coordinator in Denver, where he transformed a struggling defense into a Super Bowl Championship unit. After inheriting a club that ranked last in total defense in 1994, Robinson made an immediate impact in his first season with the team, as the Broncos finished the 1995 campaign ranked 15th in the same category. By 1996, he had turned Denver into the league’s fourth-rated defensive unit, and by season number three in ’97, the Broncos were on their way to the first of two straight Super Bowl titles.
During his stellar six-season stay in Denver, the Broncos made four playoff appearances and claimed back-to-back World Championships with wins in Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII, making them just one of six franchises in NFL history to accomplish a Super Bowl repeat. Over that six-year span, the Broncos compiled a 64-32 (.667) regular-season record.
The Broncos ranked in the NFL’s top 10 in total defense during three of Robinson’s six seasons at the club’s defensive helm, finishing seventh in ’99 (297.1 ypg), fifth in ’97 (291.9 ypg) and fourth in ’96 (279.4 ypg). Denver’s defenses were also stingy in the scoring column during his reign with the Broncos, producing three top 10 rankings in scoring defense – eighth in ’98 (19.3 ppg), sixth in ’97 (17.9 ppg) and seventh in ’96 (17.2 ppg).
The performance of Robinson’s defense throughout the ’98 playoffs was paramount to Denver’s quest for a second straight title. The Broncos allowed opponents just 53.0 rushing yards per game in the postseason and forced a remarkable 13 turnovers in just three games. Denver allowed just 25 total points during that stretch.
Robinson joined the Broncos after a five-year stint with the New York Jets (1990-94). He coached the defensive line from 1990-93 and served as defensive coordinator in ’94 when the Jets ranked eighth in the league by permitting just 20.0 points per game.
The Los Angeles native spent his first 15 years of coaching in the collegiate ranks and entered the NFL after an eight-year stint at UCLA (1982-89). Robinson was the Bruins defensive line coach from 1982-88 before switching sides of the ball to serve as offensive coordinator in 1989. He was a member of three Rose Bowl Champion squads during his tenure with the Bruins, following the 1982, ’83 and ’85 seasons. He had been promoted to assistant head coach at UCLA for the 1990 season, but opted to join the Jets instead.
A 1975 graduate of the University of the Pacific with a degree in political science, Robinson began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Pacific in 1975-76. He made stops at Cal State Fullerton (1977-79) and North Carolina State (1980-81) before moving to UCLA in 1982.
Robinson began his collegiate playing career as a linebacker at Bakersfield Community College from 1970-71 before moving on to play center, tight end and linebacker at the University of the Pacific in 1975-76.
He and his wife, Laura, have three children, Dominic, Lindsay, and Leslie Ann.
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GREG ROBINSON AT-A-GLANCE |
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| Hometown | Los Angeles, Calif. |
| High school | Garces (Bakersfield, Calif.) |
| College | University of the Pacific '75 |
| Year in coaching | 36th |
| Wife | Laura |
| Children | Dominic, Lindsay, Leslie Ann |
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COACHING ASSIGNMENTS |
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| 2013- | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers | Texas |
| 2009-10 | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers | Michigan |
| 2005-08 | Head Coach | Syracuse |
| 2004 | Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers | Texas |
| 2001-03 | Defensive Coordinator | Kansas City Cheifs |
| 1995-00 | Defensive Coordinator | Denver Broncos |
| 1994 | Defensive Coordinator | New York Jets |
| 1990-93 | Assistant Coach/Defensive Line | New York Jets |
| 1989 | Offensive Coordinator | UCLA |
| 1982-88 | Assistant Coach/Defensive Line | UCLA |
| 1980-81 | Assistant Coach | NC State |
| 1977-79 | Assistant Coach | Cal State Fullerton |
| 1975-76 | Assistant Coach | Pacific |
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NFL POSTSEASON/COLLEGE BOWL EXPERIENCE |
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| 2010 | Gator Bowl | Michigan |
| 2004 | Rose Bowl | Texas |
| 2003 | Playoffs | Kansas City Chiefs |
| 2000 | Playoffs | Denver Broncos |
| 1998 | Playoffs | Denver Broncos |
| 1997 | Playoffs | Denver Broncos |
| 1996 | Playoffs | Denver Broncos |
| 1991 | Playoffs | New York Jets |
| 1989 | Cotton Bowl | UCLA |
| 1987 | Aloha Bowl | UCLA |
| 1986 | Freedom Bowl | UCLA |
| 1986 | Rose Bowl | UCLA |
| 1985 | Fiesta Bowl | UCLA |
| 1984 | Rose Bowl | UCLA |
| 1983 | Rose Bowl | UCLA |
