Tag: John Robinson

USC rule of three: A trio of great Trojan coaches pounced at the same time

#USC has its own rule of three: John McKay, John Robinson, and Pete Carroll are all united in Trojan lore.

The history of USC football is rich. It has covered more than a full century since 1922, when Gus Henderson led the Trojans onto the gridiron. We have been remembering USC’s great unbeaten teams over the decades, from the earlier eras of the program to modern times.

There are many remarkable facts to mention about the storied history of USC football. One of the more eye-opening facts about this program is that three of its great coaches all won national championships in their third season in the Associated Press Poll era, which began in 1936.

You couldn’t make up something like this if you tried.

John McKay became USC head coach before the 1960 season. He won the national championship in 1962, his third season at the helm.

John Robinson took over as USC head coach from McKay in the 1976 season. He won the national title in 1978, his third season as head man.

Pete Carroll took over as USC head coach before the 2001 college football season. He won the Associated Press national championship in 2003, his third season.

Three great coaches at USC won their first national championship at the school in their third season. Good things come in threes? It’s definitely true at USC.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092282]

Greg Schiano’s second tenure at Rutgers is unlike John Robinson at USC

John Robinson’s 1st & 2nd go-rounds as #USC coach were very different. Schiano’s two tenures at @RutgersWire: basically the same.

When John Robinson first became head coach of USC after the 1975 regular season and the departure of John McKay to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he inherited a powerhouse program. USC was coming off a down year, but the Trojans had won two national titles in the three seasons before 1975. The cupboard was not bare, to put it plainly.

When Robinson came back to USC in the early 1990s, he stepped into a completely different world. USC’s brand and stature had been eroded by the latter years of Larry Smith’s tenure, also by the Ted Tollner years. Smith had three really good seasons from 1987-1989, but from 1983-1992, USC was more often mediocre than good. Robinson struggled to create the juggernaut he maintained in the 1970s.

The first and second tenures for Robinson were dramatically different.

Greg Schiano, like Robinson, coached at a college program once, then went to the NFL, and then came back to that same school for a second go-round. He coached at Rutgers from 2001 through 2011, then went to the NFL and the Buccaneers, only to come back to Rutgers in 2020.

In this case, the first and second tenures were (and are) pretty much the same.

Schiano inherited a Rutgers program in 2001 which had hit rock bottom under previous coach Terry Shea. RU was 3-8 in the Big East in 2000 before Schiano came aboard.

In 2019, Rutgers went 2-10 in the Big Ten under Chris Ash. Schiano had to once again build from the ground up.

Rutgers Wire editor Kristian Dyer talked about the similarities between the first and second Rutgers tenures of Greg Schiano on our USC Big Ten Tour podcast episode:

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092282]

Trojan legend John Robinson finally got his man … by leaving USC

John Robinson is a great and beloved Trojan, but he coached Eric Dickerson only by leaving USC. @LBCTrojan knows the story.

The twists and turns of football history are fascinating to contemplate.

On Friday, we passed along a story told by Rick Anaya, the co-host of Trojan Conquest Live, the USC YouTube show which airs Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific at The Voice of College Football. Anaya told this story during his interview — with co-host Tim Prangley — of USC legend Anthony Munoz.

Here’s the short story, for those who missed it:

“The day was January 1, 1980. USC, Anthony Munoz, and Charles White played No. 1 and unbeaten Ohio State in the 1980 Rose Bowl. Munoz talked about this game and many other subjects in his recent conversation at Trojan Conquest Live with co-hosts Rick Anaya and Tim Prangley.

“On this Anthony Munoz show, Rick Anaya mentioned that John Jackson — the USC receiver who was an important part of the late-1980s Rose Bowl teams under then-coach Larry Smith — was just 12 years old on New Year’s Day of 1980. Jackson told Anaya that he attended the 1980 Rose Bowl in person. Who was sitting next to him? None other than SMU running back Eric Dickerson, who played his freshman season with the Mustangs in 1979.”

Eric Dickerson watched USC coach John Robinson win a third Rose Bowl and finish in the national top two of the polls for the third time in four years. There was obviously some degree of mutual admiration, if not curiosity, between Robinson and Dickerson for the running back to make his way to the 1980 Rose Bowl Game and watch in person.

Well, a few short years later, the player and the coach would be united.

Robinson left USC after the 1982 season to coach the Los Angeles Rams over in Anaheim. Dickerson’s magnificent SMU career ended with the 1983 Cotton Bowl against another NFL legend-to-be, Dan Marino of the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Who was the first Ram taken in Robinson’s first NFL draft as the Rams’ head coach? Eric Dickerson with the No. 2 overall pick. Dickerson helped Robinson reach the NFC Championship Game in what was a very successful NFL run for the former USC coach. Had the Joe Montana-led San Francisco 49ers not become a dynasty in the 1980s, Robinson and the Rams probably would have made the Super Bowl at some point.

John Robinson and Eric Dickerson — both inside the stadium at the 1980 Rose Bowl — never worked together as player and coach in college, but their paths ultimately did intersect in the pros. They are both grateful it happened.

Be sure to catch the next episode of Trojan Conquest Live on Sunday, June 18, at 8 Eastern and 5 Pacific at The Voice of College Football.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092269]

Where Howie Roseman landed in a power ranking of all 32 NFL GMs

Where Philadelphia Eagles Howie Roseman landed in an NFL.com power ranking of all 32 NFL General Managers

NFL team decision-makers are not exempt from seeing their stock rise and fall like the Nasdaq, and as Eagles general manager Howie Roseman prepares for another NFL draft, his status among his peers has seemed to take a hit.

Roseman was once considered one of the top GMs in the NFL, but over the past few years, his draft-day decisions have caused a slide in general manager rankings.

Around this time last April, Roseman was ranked among the worst executives in football, and that was one year after another top-5 ranking.

In a recent ranking from NFL.com’s Greg Rosenthal, Roseman landed in the middle of the pack, garnering an average ranking.

14) Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles. Like Bill Belichick, Roseman badly needed a rebound after a string of mostly shaky drafts — and the Eagles GM got it with DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, and Milton Williams. The Jalen Hurts pick also looks pretty good now; Philadelphia got league-average starting-quarterback play from a second-rounder on a rookie contract. There have been some massive ups and downs in Roseman’s reign, but he’s settling in here just above average, like the Eagles’ nine-win seasons in three of the last four years.

Brandon Beane of the Bills and Les Snead of the Rams landed at the top of the list, with the Steelers, Packers, and Chiefs landing in the top-5.

Signing the 2018 class to contract extensions is a feather in Roseman’s cap, but the 2019 selection of J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and the 2020 selection of Jalen Reagor have dragged the Eagles’ general manager down a peg after he passed on Pro Bowl wide receivers in back-to-back NFL drafts.

[listicle id=665632]

[listicle id=665355]

[lawrence-related id=665717,665699,665676,665614]

Throwback Thursday: Rams, Flipper Anderson stun Giants in 1989 playoffs

In the latest Giants Wire Throwback Thursday, we head back to the 1989 playoffs when the Los Angeles Rams stunned the New York Giants in OT.

In 1989, the New York Giants were back in the playoffs for the first time since their dominant, Super Bowl-winning season three years before.

In 1987, they opened at 0-2 before the players went on strike. The owners continued the season with replacement players, something the Giants did not stock up on, and before you could blink an eye, they were 0-5. They recovered to finish 6-9, but it was not enough to qualify for the postseason.

In 1988, the Giants finished 10-6 but failed to secure a postseason berth when they lost to the Jets, 27-21, in the final game.

The 1989 season would be the year the Giants rose back to prominence. They opened the season with an 8-1 record and went on to win the NFC East with a 12-4 record. As a division winner, they drew a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

On Jan. 7, 1990, Bill Parcells’ crew hosted John Robinson’s Los Angeles Rams at Giants Stadium in the NFC divisional round. The Rams had disposed of the Philadelphia Eagles the week before in the wild-card round and came into New Jersey as three-point underdogs.

The Rams were one of the teams that managed to beat the Giants during the regular season, knocking them off, 31-10, in Anaheim on Nov. 12.

In this game, however, L.A. had to come 3,000 miles to play a Giants team that had lost just once at home that season. On a typical blustery Meadowlands afternoon, the feeling in the air was that the Giants were going to romp.

That didn’t happen. Instead, they were flatter than they had looked in weeks.

The over/under on the game was 39 points because, well, it was a Giants game with Parcells at the helm. As predicted, the game was a low-scoring one.

The Giants defense was putting in their typical home cold-weather defensive performance, and New York was up, 6-0, with 17 seconds to go in the first half. That’s when Los Angeles quarterback Jim Everett caught the Giants napping and hit wide receiver Willie “Flipper” Anderson for a 30-yard touchdown strike.

That would not be the last the Giants would see of Anderson on the day.

The Giants regained the lead in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown plunge by Ottis Anderson. The Rams would hold the Giants scoreless in the fourth quarter and tie the game at 13 with two short field goals by Mike Lansford, sending the game into overtime.

Fans were getting antsy, groaning about the Giants offense being put in dry dock in the second half by Parcells. An earlier interception that led to a Rams touchdown may have been the reason.

In overtime, the Rams won the coin toss and marched down the field on the stunned Giants. It took only 1:06 for the visitors to score the winning touchdown, a 30-yard reception by Anderson over Giants cornerback Mark Collins that ended with Flipper running straight through the back of the end zone, through the tunnel and into the locker room.

“When I came into the lockers, I was here by myself,” said Anderson, whose only two catches that Sunday were the Rams’ only touchdowns. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Neither did any of us who were watching in the stands. Was that it? Is the game over? Does that count?

It sure did. And it still stings.

The Giants would bounce back from this devastating loss and win the Super Bowl the next season, but it was another long offseason for Giants fans in 1990.

In retrospect, fans still cringe when they think about that day, and when they hear Flipper Anderson’s name, but they shouldn’t. Anderson only caught two passes on the day — both went for touchdowns — but was a well-known deep threat.

They should have been more aware of Anderson, who set a single-game NFL record for receiving yards (336) six weeks before against New Orleans. That record still stands.

[listicle id=677733]