Monday, Aug. 4, 2003 | 9:02 a.m.
Watch the Rebels
UNLV begins daily fall camp practices Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the Ernie Becker Sr. Practice Fields at Bill "Wildcat" Morris Rebel Park.
The Rebels will practice only at 7 p.m. this week because of new NCAA guidelines limiting two-a-days. Morning workouts, which begin at 7 a.m., are scheduled for Aug. 11, 13, 15, 18 and 20, as well as Aug. 22 when no night practice is scheduled.
Practices last approximately two hours and are open to the public. For more information, contact the UNLV sports information office at 895-3207.
John Robinson certainly hopes the year 2003 finishes a lot better than it started.
Robinson, 68, who will return to USC later this month at the invitation of Trojans coach Pete Carroll to attend the school's annual Salute To Troy dinner that will honor Robinson's 1978 national championship squad, has had to deal with more than his share of off-the-field issues.
First, wife Linda had major surgery for breast cancer. While driving her home from California a few days later, Robinson began experiencing chest pains that were diagnosed a day later as a heart attack. Surgery was performed that afternoon to unclog an artery.
If that weren't enough, Robinson suddenly found his football program under the microscope again when the school discovered that longtime friend and assistant coach John Jackson's telephone identification number had been used by athletes and dorm students to place long distance phone calls for more than a year.
And twice during spring practice Robinson had to leave the field during workouts to rush to the hospital when his wife began experiencing complications from some of the four surgeries she'd had.
Robinson decided to step down as UNLV's athletic director at the end of May so that he could spend more time with his ailing wife, who still has at least one more surgery to go.
But the tide seems to be turning in a positive direction for Robinson this summer.
His wife's health seems to be improving and Robinson is busy preparing for his 17th year as a college head coach which officially starts this afternoon when players report for the start of fall camp. The heart attack that sidelined him for several weeks in March seems like a very distant memory. And he just spent the weekend in Canton, Ohio, again where he was lauded again by another of his former players, Marcus Allen, who was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
The Sun's Steve Guiremand sat down for a question and answer session with Robinson to get his perspective on the upcoming season, his fifth at UNLV.
Las Vegas Sun: You just turned 68 last week. After the heart attack in March, how are you feeling these days?
John Robinson: I think in some ways I'm better than I would have been if I hadn't had that wakeup call. I think I have a challenge in that I have to maintain an even keel of exercise and diet during these 15-hour days. I've got to prove that I can do that to myself. But I feel very good and very eager for us to get going.
Sun: What kind of exercise program are you doing to keep in shape?
JR: Running in the pool, things like that.
Sun: So I'm guessing we won't be seeing you munching on any more In-N-Out Burgers around here at lunchtime?
JR: No, no more of that.
Sun: This is your fifth season coaching UNLV. How does it feel to finally have all the kids here that you recruited?
JR: They're all your kids the week after you come anywhere. That's always true. I think this is our best collection of players. We're bigger and we're faster. If we put the talent we have together well, we'll have a good season.
Sun: Jason Thomas has moved on and the Kurt Nantkes era officially begins on Aug. 29 against Toledo. How big do you think it was for this team and Kurt to be able to close out last season with that stunning 36-33 come-from-behind victory at 13th ranked Colorado State?
JR: I'm sure that had a good effect. I'm sure it gave everyone a sense of comfort about that position. I think we have an offense that probably has more capability than we had last year or the year before in terms of the variety of things we can do. I think we feel like we can count on Kurt's performance.
Sun: Bruce Snyder joined the staff in January. There aren't too many staffs around that can claim they have two national coach of the year winners. Just how big a contribution has he made since coming aboard?
JR: It's great fun for me because he and I are friends and have done this before. He has a great football knowledge. He is probably most appreciated right now for his consistency. He's a hard-nosed, focused, do-it-every-day kind of guy who brings consistency, something I think this team needs to have. That part of our personality needs to move forward this year. A lot of the things that went wrong for us last year in all three areas is we didn't do things on a consistent level. There are a lot of reasons why. But Bruce will help us on that.
Sun: What are the two or three key areas you think you need to work on in fall camp?
JR: Defensively, we're fast and we need to play fast. We need to have the identity of speed and really use it. Speed is one thing, but if you don't play fast it's unused. I think the secondary and the play of the corners will be important. Offensively, I think the main thing is we just have to work on being efficient. We led the league in offense last year, but we really weren't No. 1 because we made errors and we didn't score as much as we should have. Those are the areas we need to work on ... making first downs, not turning the ball over and taking advantage of things. And we need to get out special teams back to where they were two years ago when we were one of the best.
Sun: What newcomers do you think have the best chances of making an impact?
JR: I think (guard) Joe Critchfield in the offensive line and Greg Estandia at tight end. (Running back) Alvin Marshall certainly. On defense, we have (John) Andrews and (Reggie) Butler at linebacker and Willie Tagoai and Joe Miklos at safety. We have several young wide receivers who are real prospects. I think they will all play important roles for us.
Sun: After defeating Arkansas, 31-14, in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl, you've had back-to-back losing seasons. Does that put any more pressure on the program and yourself?
JR: I think everybody feels the pressure to win. That's what you come to do. I don't know if you feel it from somebody looking over your shoulder, but more from your own standards and the fact that you didn't make what you set out to achieve.
Sun: You will have a new athletic director coming in here soon. Does that put more pressure to have a good season on you?
JR: Oh, no. I don't think so. I think there would be more pressure probably if I was still the athletic director than if somebody else was. You scrutinize yourself so much more. I look forward to (the new athletic director). Football coaches are always on the line as all coaches are. You either do it or you don't. You're either doing the best you can and people recognize it or something is wrong. We're just going to do the best we can and not worry about that.
Sun: It has been only been a couple of months since you resigned as athletic director, but looking back, are you glad you made that decision?
JR: It was the right decision to make, not so much because of the job situation but because it was a family situation. Clearly, it was necessary for me to step down when I did.
Sun: How is Linda doing?
JR: She's doing better. The severity of her situation is not appreciated. She has a fairly extended road to recovery but I think she is on it.
Sun: You've been hearing this question a lot lately: How much longer do you think you'll keep coaching?
JR: It's year to year, but it's year to year for every coach these days. Every once in a while you think about it and a plan to retire. But I've never been good at long-range planning. I think as a football coach you say, "Boy, the team comes in on Monday and let's focus on Tuesday's practice." Then you focus on the first game and so forth. Obviously (retirement) is coming, but that was coming when I first started at USC. The competition and the kids, being around them and seeing them improve, that keeps you going. When it doesn't anymore, then it will be time to stop.
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