David Cassidy on the Web
A Look Back: Robinson brought a big spotlight to UNLV's football program
David Cassidy was just one of many celebrities to stop by John Robinson's weekly radio show. (UNLV courtesy photo).
October 21, 2009
By Mark Wallington
http://rebelnation.reviewjournal.com/
The press conference was the biggest in UNLV athletics history as a couple hundred people filled the Tam Alumni Center on campus.
Two national television channels carried the proceedings live to the sporting world while a few L.A.-based media members scrambled to make it to town in time. Among the dozens of well-wishers lining the back of the room on that cool but sunny day was a group of current Rebel players hoping to confirm with their own eyes that the rumors swirling around town were true.
They were all there to see John Robinson named UNLV head coach on Dec. 3, 1998, and at the same time watch the Rebels suddenly become a name in college football.
Amazingly, it’s already been a decade since Robinson’s first of six seasons coaching in Las Vegas but the memories are still fresh. After all, it’s not often that a 3-8 college football team playing in a brand-new conference gets so much attention. And convincing the former national champion at USC and longtime NFL head man for the Los Angeles Rams to sign on with a school coming off a winless season did wonders for the psyche of a suffering football program.
Out of the sport for just one year after being let go by Trojans athletics director Mike Garrett, Robinson was game for a final run on the sidelines – this time in the desert.
“I took the job there because I wanted to coach again,” Robinson says. “I didn’t know much about UNLV but it was in the West and I always liked the city of Las Vegas.”
And Las Vegas liked J.R. His eye-popping credentials and warm wit made Robinson popular across Southern Nevada – from the die-hards at Sam Boyd Stadium to the taxi drivers working McCarran Airport to the world-famous chefs also setting up shop on the Strip.
“The football program had a lack of confidence when we arrived,” he says. “There was no sense of what to do. So we just started to build, from the practice field to the fan base.”
Some changes were tangible. Robinson, photographed with a sparkling Las Vegas Strip as a backdrop, graced the cover of USA Today’s college football preview. CNN came to town to do a major feature on the coach’s journey. Work soon began on sprucing up the practice areas.
Robinson also turned some heads locally by attracting plenty of his famous pals to town. The coach’s first golf tournament included stars from his college and pro days such as Ronnie Lott, Marcus Allen, Terry Donahue and Bo Schembechler. Rebel royalty such as Ickey Woods and Kenny Mayne also were eager to tee it up with the new leader.
Anything – it seemed -- was possible in 1999: There was Keyshawn Johnson giving pointers on the sidelines, John Madden hanging out at Rebel Park, former Ram Kevin Greene sitting on a couch in the film room, Pat “Mr. Miyagi” Morita snacking on tortilla chips up in the press box, and don’t forget legendary player Hugh McElhenny showing up at the weekly booster luncheons.
Such was life under Mr. Robinson.
Nowhere was the widened spotlight more apparent than on the radio dial as the UNLV coach’s weekly show went from being broadcast from a cramped corner booth at a local eatery to staging each week inside a lounge at Sunset Station.
The first “John Robinson Radio Show” guest was none other than entertainer David Cassidy, who was headlining the old EFX spectacular at the MGM Grand. UNLV broadcast manager Tony Cordasco, who also served as play-by-play man at the time, took Robinson’s request to liven up the show to an extreme.
“Coach Robinson brought a ton of notoriety to the program and said he didn’t want to have a typical coach’s show,” says Cordasco. “After talking football all day he wanted to have more of a showbiz vibe, so we would also bring on guests from outside of the sports world.”
Whether it was Nils Lofgren of the E Street Band or Susan Anton fresh from her gig at the Flamingo Hilton or Bob Flanigan, one of the original members of the 1950s vocal group the Four Freshmen, the “it” crowd was coming around for the first time since Jerry Tarkanian was rubbing elbows with Sinatra. Not to mention, it was probably the first – and only -- sports radio show to feature performances by a professional juggler or hypnotist.
“We had a small live audience that we were also trying to entertain so we didn’t know what was coming next,” says Cordasco. “(Local musician) Tommy Rocker performed there a couple times and took us in and out of breaks, kind of like we had our own ‘Tonight Show’ band. It was wild.” Things quickly changed on the field as well for the Rebels.
Game one of the Robinson era saw UNLV travel to face another program that was having trouble winning, the University of North Texas. Playing on a Thursday night, the Rebels were quartered in a tiny locker room with no air conditioning in the thick late-summer humidity. The team, however, coolly took the field at Fouts Field and promptly took care of the Mean Green, 26-3, ending a soul-sapping 26-game road losing streak that dated back half a decade.
“What I remember about preparing for that first game was having to convince the players that they could actually win,” Robinson says. “We didn’t play a very good team but we played sound, efficient football and got it done. Considering the circumstances, it was a memorable start.”
Memorable doesn’t quite cut it for describing what happened next as UNLV headed right back to Texas the following week to play Baylor. Using a 100-yard fumble return with no time on the clock (a play later ranked 85th in ESPN’s Top 100 Defining Plays in College Football History), the Rebels improved to 2-0 for the first time since 1992 and got people talking about a magical season possibly brewing in Las Vegas.
Robinson didn’t buy the hype.
“After that ending at Baylor, I figured we’d used up all our good luck for the season.”
He was nearly right. The team dropped its next three and would only win once more in ’99, a 35-32 stunner at four-touchdown favorite Wyoming in early October that brought the school its first-ever victory in the newly formed Mountain West Conference.
“Even though we only won three games that first year, coach told me he thought he may have done his best-ever job with that team,” longtime UNLV director of equipment Paul Pucciarelli said. “And that’s coming from someone who had never had a losing season before in college. That showed who the real John Robinson was. He just loved coaching.
“He instantly provided us a presence and gave our student-athletes a feeling of belonging when we traveled to places like Ole Miss, Tennessee and Wisconsin. No one ever overlooked the Rebels when they came to town because John Robinson was on the sidelines.”
It was his second season that produced Robinson’s zenith at UNLV. USC super-recruit Jason Thomas had transferred in and would take the reigns of the offense as the 2000 Rebels won eight games for the only time this quarter-century, topped off with a bowl-game beat-down of SEC power Arkansas, 31-14.
Robinson would stay on through 2004, even adding the duties of athletics director for a spell, before announcing his permanent retirement from the sidelines as the second-winningest coach in Rebel history. On Dec. 8, Robinson will be honored in New York for his election to the College Football Hall of Fame – becoming the first player or head coach associated with UNLV to be so honored.
A decade after all the initial fuss, the coach says his favorite memories of his time here are all about the people.
“I think we helped raise UNLV up another level,” says Robinson. “But really, I’ll never forget the players we had and the staff there. I still feel the people there are some of the best in the country in this business. We had fun.”
