Greg Robinson, former DC under Rich Rod, dies
https://twitter.com/syrfootball/status/1478835249576615937?s=21
Two time Super Bowl DC and author of one of the all time great victories over Notre Dame while HC at Syracuse, has passed away. He was 70.
January 6th, 2022 at 3:18 AM ^
Aww that sucks. RIP GERG. That beautiful silver mane will be missed.
January 6th, 2022 at 11:47 AM ^
Worth noting that Robinson retired, sort of abruptly after the 2015 season.
Reminds me of Pat Summitt who passed just 4 years after retiring. Alzheimers seems to have hit them both like a freight train.
January 6th, 2022 at 2:07 PM ^
Being an avid card player (Euchre, Pinochle, Cribbage) - Greg's tenure was like being invited to replace an existing player during a card game after the cards had been dealt - only to find out that the hand you "took over" was a pile of crap. Even if you're the best card player at the table, you will likely lose and "look bad" even though you can't win at games like Euchre if you have two 9s, two 10s, one Q and are four-suited.
I also believe Greg got stuck with a few of RR's pals on D (Tony Gibson, etc.) and was forced to run a 3-3-5 D that is useless vs. power running teams like Wisconsin, Iowa, MSU (in those days), OSU, etc.
He probably didn't have many options after Syracuse and took a shot at UM even given the constraints (3-3-5, etc.). He did find and help develop Kovacs. While I didn't think he was much of a coach, we had some misses in recruiting that were more Gibson's and/or RR's - the "impaler" guy, Turner, the Demar Dorsey fiasco, etc.
I never did quite understand why Shafer left after just one year but he did a good job under Marrone at Cuse.
Having had a friend also UM grad die at 55 from ALS, I can say that both of these diseases are dreadful for all involved, including the person with the condition.
RIP Greg - you lived a good life, albeit shorter than expected.
January 7th, 2022 at 7:05 PM ^
God rest his soul.
To be fair, he got a lot of unjustified flak while he was here. He was blamed for defensive woes that really should have been laid at the feet of Rich Rod.
He was an excellent 4-3 defensive coach, but Rich Rod wanted him to run the 3-3-5. That’s like asking a tractor pull driver to suddenly take up formula one racing and drive the Monaco Grand Prix next week. Rich Rod, for whatever reason, would not hire a DC with a 3-3-5 focus, and Robinson got thrown under the bus.