OT: GERG hired by Longhorns

Submitted by 5th and Long on

Greg Robinson has been hired as a football analyst for the Texas Longhorns

LINK

 

Mack Brown added, "I'm thrilled for him to be back at UT. He brings 36 years of experience, two Super Bowl rings, and a stuffed beaver to Austin and those are things you can't replace."

 

 

 

DISCLAIMERS:  1st thread creation.   Quote may not be actual.

EGD

July 18th, 2013 at 12:12 AM ^

Well, good for GERG.  Though, I am sure they are rejoicing in Norman, Lubbock, Stillwater, Manhattan (NTM'hattan), wherever Baylor is, and elsewhere around the Big XII.

EGD

July 18th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^

So, in the mid-to-late 1990s Nebraska basically dominated the Big Eight and Big XII. In the earlier '90s, Oklahoma was mediocre and the rest of the Big 8 was nothing, except Colorado which had  its last a good team in 1994 with the Kordell Stewart/Rashaan Salaam/Michael Westbrook trio.  But then Bill McCartney left to do his cult thing, and CU entered the inevitable death spiral that happens when you put Rick Neuheisel in charge.  (CU did get good again in the early 2000s under Gary Barnett, but then the misogynist caveman scandals happened and they have rotted ever since).  The Big XII started in 1996, but at that time Texas was mediocre under John Mackovic (though they did defeat Nebraska that year), Oklahoma was still nothing, and Texas A&M had gone into a precipitous decline.  The only team that really posed a serious threat to Nebraska's national title hopes was Bill Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats.  

For that reason, I somewhat followed Kansas State football during that time period, since I was convinced that, for Michigan to win a national championship, they would need K-State to defeat Nebraska (keep in mind this was the pre-BCS era when you generally either had to reach #1 in the polls before your bowl game, or reach #2 and have the #1 team lose its own bowl game).  I presume that's how I happened to know where Kansas State is located.  In retrospect, I guess I should have been following Missouri football instead.

 

Ali G Bomaye

July 18th, 2013 at 11:14 AM ^

Colorado went 33-14 under Neuheisel, with three bowl wins and two top-10 finishes, before he left to go coach Washington (who offered him a top-5 coaching salary).  Although he took over a great team, it's hard to call Neuheisel's tenure there a "death spiral," unless you blame him for Colorado subsequently going 10-13 in their first two years under Barnett.

M-Wolverine

July 18th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^

Neuheisel went 10-2, 10-2, 5-6 (wins vacated), 8-4, 7-5...defnitely going downhill.  He had his most success with the players left behind.  Barnet then won 7, 3, 10, and 9 after that. So maybe not a rock bottoming of the program, but he certainly wasn't going in the right direction.

Z

July 18th, 2013 at 5:26 PM ^

Just because he's a terrible (terrible, terrible, terrible) defensive coordinator doesn't make him a bad analyst.  He clearly isn't much of a leader - a must to be effective at the D1 level - but he doesn't accumulate the experience he has without knowing a lot about what it takes to be an effective defense.  

 

This might be a good hire for them.

MaizeMN

July 18th, 2013 at 12:35 AM ^

GERG is feverishly glueing toothpicks to the beaver in order to more properly motivate the football team. Somewhere in the distance, Beevo moos and weeps. The thought of an impending BBQ while being replaced by  a beaver with toothpick horns, too much to bare.

Perkis-Size Me

July 18th, 2013 at 12:32 AM ^

Well, I hope it works out for him. There was no excuse for the defense being as bad as it was under his watch, but he was put in a rough spot with RichRod asking him to run a defense he knew nothing about.

Still, I hope GERG never comes within 500 miles of Ann Arbor ever again. Unless, of course, Texas is coming up to Ann Arbor for a home-and-home, and then Mattison can give him a few pointers about how a defense should be run.

 

TheGhostofChappuis

July 18th, 2013 at 12:33 AM ^

In truth, this is probably a decent move.  I don't think Robinson's problem was ever his knowledge of the game.  It was that he couldn't coach kids worth shit.

joeyb

July 18th, 2013 at 7:13 AM ^

Why would it have to be sarcasm? He won two Super Bowls and a MNC with talent that he didn't have to coach up by running systems he was familiar with. Neither of those two were true while he was here. His football knowledge is fine. It's his coaching abilities that were lacking. However, he's not being asked to coach, is he?

GoBlueInNYC

July 18th, 2013 at 7:13 AM ^

It's not a totally crazy thought. There was plenty of grumbling around here during the GERG years about how players didn't know fundamentals (e.g., tackling technique or, apparently, how to watch film), but the guy was still a long time coach on title winning teams both in the NFL and the college elite. I could see him being very knowledgable about the game but just sucking at teaching kids how to play it.

But man oh man, did he ever suck at it.

BlueinLansing

July 18th, 2013 at 1:00 AM ^

I'm sure his time at Michigan was very disappointing from a professional level.  Was never given full control of his personnel or game planning.

 

Sorry to say though his recruiting didn't help.

B-Nut-GoBlue

July 18th, 2013 at 1:15 AM ^

On the surface it's pretty lulz worthy but in reality this is probably a decent move.  The guys' got loads of football knowledge (he even had it when he was here, it just didn't exactly go noticed) and a role that lets him utilize that is probably good for both sides.

BlueDragon

July 18th, 2013 at 1:48 AM ^

GERG is living proof that connections, not ability, determine how far one will rise in the world. It's about who you know, not how good you are at your job. But to be fair, he is analyzing film and not directly coaching players.

GoBlueInNYC

July 18th, 2013 at 7:18 AM ^

The guy does have 2 Super Bowl rings and a BCS title under his belt. His career flamed out fast between his time at Syracuse and then UM, but he still has a better than average resume to fall back on. Not to mention, he was the DC for Texas when they won their last title.

Ali G Bomaye

July 18th, 2013 at 11:24 AM ^

If you look at how his defenses performed, instead of how he landed on teams with great offenses, then GERG doesn't have a better than average resume.  People have explored his college coaching failings in great detail, but in his 10 years as a DC in the NFL, GERG's defenses finished 16th on average.

LSAClassOf2000

July 18th, 2013 at 5:55 AM ^

SBNation had some information on where Robinson's new position apporximately falls on the org chart, if you will - (HERE).

"He's been out of football since (Michigan), but now he's back, in a role that Texas' website indicates will be in their new "player personnel" department, dealing with scouting of opposition and quality control. Manny Diaz is the defensive coordinator, and defensive backs coach Duane Akina is listed as the team's assistant head coach, so Robinson isn't too high up the food chain. "

The link in the article there goes to the Longhorns' official announcement actually, which has some expanded quotes from Greg Robinson, where he expounds at some length on how he is simply in what amounts to a support role. It does outline his duties specifically as QC evaluation, video analysis, self-scouting and some opponent scouting. 

 

chatster

July 18th, 2013 at 7:11 AM ^

By all accounts, he’s a decent man, but "Gergian" defenses in the NFL ranked 24th with the Denver Broncos in 2000, and then, with the Kansas City Chiefs, 23rd in 2001, 32nd in 2002 and 29th in 2003 when he last coached in the NFL.

True, in his one year as co-defensive coordinator at Texas (2004), the Longhorns were ranked 23rd in total defense; but they were ranked 25th in total defense in 2003, and in 2005, they were ranked 22nd.

His most-recent college defenses were ranked 57th (using Paul Pasqualoni’s players) in 2005, 107th in 2006, 111th in 2007 and 101st in 2008 at Syracuse; and 82nd in 2009 and 108th in 2010 at Michigan.

In those ten seasons outside of his one year at Texas in 2004, six of his defenses finished in the bottom 20% of all teams. The one "good" season out of those ten (2005) saw his defense ranked just barely in the top half of all NCAA FBS teams.

Last year, he was helping to coach long snappers and defense for a high school team in California. Of course, moving to the video room at Texas was a "no-brainer" for him.

Wonder whether any of the Longhorns' defensive players will be watching this video with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ydiZMflsnU

TrppWlbrnID

July 18th, 2013 at 7:38 AM ^

Get their own show on the longhorn network, sort of like Mr Ed but they solve crimes with that crazy "will they, won't they" tension from Moonlighting.

gwkrlghl

July 18th, 2013 at 7:43 AM ^

because I'm not sure any other football coach would let him even observe a practice. I don't know what GERG is good at or how he got to the top of football coaching, but he should not be allowed to coach defenses again

GoBlueInNYC

July 18th, 2013 at 7:58 AM ^

Funny thing is, Texas's defense is the only thing keeping them decent in the post Colt McCoy years. They've struggled to find a good QB since (Gilbert was a bust, Chase McCoy has a pretty low ceiling, and Ash has struggled to develop), but they've lead (or close to) the conference in defense most seasons.

Blue in Yarmouth

July 18th, 2013 at 7:59 AM ^

All Mack Brown really wants out of Gerg is to figure out how he can make his tired looking grey hair look as luscious as Gerg's amazing mane. Once he learns the secret, Gerg will be back on the unemployment line and Mack will be parading himself along the sidelines with an awesome new doo, looking 20 years younger. 

Yo_Blue

July 18th, 2013 at 8:14 AM ^

What's missing in the story is that HE WILL NOT BE A COACH AT TEXAS.  He was hired as an "Analyst" who's primary job is to evaluate film.  It's just a good-ol-boy hire and throwing Gerg a bone.

saveferris

July 18th, 2013 at 8:17 AM ^

Well, in GERG's defense, I doubt Mack Brown will demand that he run a defensive system with which he's unfamiliar and won't have Jay Hopson or Tony Gibson coaching the linebackers or secondary, respectively.

michiganfanforlife

July 18th, 2013 at 9:56 AM ^

or do you also have times in your life when you feel like we're living in some kind of whacked out alternate universe that really doesn't exist? GERG gave me that feeling... It's bad enough that he brought the thing to the game, but he was attacking players with it!