Thursday, Scott Turner took to the podium for his first press conference since being named the Raiders interim offensive coordinator. But before he answered any questions, he had to pay his respects to a legendary coach who was a big part of his life.
“The sports/football world, and the Las Vegas community specifically, lost someone this past week in Coach John Robinson,” said Turner.
“He was my college coach, had a big impact on my life both professionally and personally. And then my dad [Norv Turner], who just joined the staff, obviously you guys know that, he played for him [Coach Robinson] at Oregon, he coached for him, and that’s how my dad met my mom, when she was his secretary at USC. So, obviously, a big, big part of our family, a tough loss, and it’s a tough loss for everybody in the football community. A legendary coach, College Football Hall of Fame.”
It’s hard to imagine a coach having more ties to a family than Robinson did with the Turner family. To coach both father AND son in college and also be the reason Norv met his wife and Scott’s mom?
In 1975, the San Mateo native Robinson returned home to coach running backs for the Raiders for a season before USC came calling for him to take their head coaching job. With the Trojans he went on to win four straight Rose Bowls and a National Championship (1978).
He then went on to the NFL as the head coach the LA Rams for eight seasons from 1983-91 before returning to USC for seasons.
His ties to Las Vegas came in 1999 when he took over as head coach at UNLV and in his final two seasons as a college head coach in 2003-04 Scott Turner played for him. Now two decades later, he recalled what stuck with him the most about playing for Robinson.
“The big thing that he did as the head coach, and what I said before is like, this is a relationship business, and I learned that from him, just like how he truly cared about all the players on the team,” Turner added. “And it didn’t matter if it was a walk-on or the highest recruit that we had there at the time, he knew about them and he found time to build relationships with guys to try to help them be the best that they can be. And that’s what coaching is about, and that’s why you get in this business.”
In 2009 — five years after Robinson’s retirement — he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He passed away on November 11 at the age of 89.