Greg Robinson Gets New Title at UCLA

After one season of running UCLA’s offense, Greg Robinson will be named assistant head coach today, Robinson confirmed Monday night.

The Bruins, coming off their worst season since 1971 with a 3-7-1 record, were criticized for an uncreative offense last fall. Robinson’s main duties will be rebuilding the defense and kicking game, he said.

The move opens the offensive coordinator position, with speculation that Coach Terry Donahue wants to rehire Homer Smith, his highly respected one-time assistant who coaches at Alabama. Smith could not be reached for comment Monday night. Other speculation centered on Mike White, the former Illinois and California coach, and Paul Hackett, one-time USC assistant.

The staff shake-up began when Larry Kerr, who coached inside linebackers for one season, accepted the defensive coordinator position with Northern Arizona. Kerr was hired by new Coach Steve Axman, who served as the Bruins’ offensive coordinator in 1988.

Robinson, a UCLA assistant for eight years, spent seven seasons on defense, and was responsible for the Bruins’ defensive lines until last season. He said Donahue was moving him to reunite the defensive assistants in an effort to reverse last season’s dismal showing.

“I enjoyed the heck out of what I did this year,” Robinson said of the offensive coordinator job. “But I’m excited to go over there (to defense) and patch up things. Terry thought this move would be the fastest way we could turn things around.”

Reached earlier Monday night, Donahue said: “I don’t have any comment on my staff whatsoever at this particular time.

“I’m evaluating my program. If and when I make changes I’ll make an announcement.”

UCLA insiders said Donahue mulled potential changes for three weeks.

“Terry wanted to put the defensive staff back together as much as he could,” Robinson said. “Right now, he wants to get the defense and kicking game squared away. We had some young people, some injuries and problems early on that hurt our defense. We have some people who have some talent.”

Although the defense had its problems, the offense took the brunt of criticism this season. Robinson said the crush from Bruin fans did not bother him.

“That’s part of the deal,” he said.

But one Bruin coach said: “There was a lot of creativity in our offense this year. But it wasn’t hitting all the cylinders some of the time.”

Smith was offensive coordinator for two terms at UCLA, driving teams that went 17-5 for Coach Pepper Rogers in 1972-73 and 59-19-5 for Donahue (1980-86). With Axman as offensive coordinator, the Bruins were 20-4 (1987-88).

Robinson, who served as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton from 1977 to ‘79, was credited with putting together the 1987 Bruin defensive line that gave up an average of 85.1 rushing yards to 11 regular-season opponents, fourth best in the country that season.