After Seven Years of Romance, Two Years of Breaking Up : Rams: Robinson was an immediate success and built on that until the 1990 season began a decline.

On Valentine’s Day, 1983, Ram owner Georgia Frontiere named John Robinson the 13th coach in franchise history. It seemed the beginning of a perfect romance, the kind that could develop into a lifetime of mutual devotion.

Within a couple of months, the Rams drafted Eric Dickerson and a revamped front office made a dozen trades.

Robinson installed a single-back offense and a 3-4 defense, and the new-look Rams were off and running, with the emphasis on running .

Robinson, who had developed into a guru of the running game at USC, was in his glory. On the practice field, he got down in a three-point stance and showed his offensive linemen specific blocking techniques. And he worked tirelessly on developing variations of blocking schemes that would open holes for Dickerson.

In the two seasons before Robinson’s arrival, the Rams were 8-17. With first-year coach Robinson calling the plays and Dickerson breaking the league’s rookie rushing record (1,808 yards), the Rams went 9-7 in the regular season and upset the Dallas Cowboys in a wild-card playoff game before losing to the Washington Redskins in the NFC divisional playoff.

And Robinson was named NFC coach of the year.

The Rams made postseason appearances in five of the next six years, missing the playoffs only in 1987, a year shortened by the NFL players’ strike.

In 1989, the Rams gave Robinson his best shot to coach in a Super Bowl when they won postseason games at Philadelphia and New York before losing the NFC championship game at San Francisco.

It was a great run, but it also marked the beginning of the end for Robinson. Once masters of the grind-it-out ground attack, the Ram offense--behind quarterback Jim Everett and receivers Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson--had evolved into a big-strike passing team.

Everett became the first player in club history to pass for more than 4,000 yards, and Ellard and Anderson became the first Ram receivers to gain more 1,000 yards in the same season.

“We probably put too much emphasis, too much pressure on the passing game,” Robinson would say later.

He also admitted that the 1989 Rams probably weren’t nearly as good as their record indicated. An alarming lack of defensive talent gave an indication of the bad times that lay ahead. The Rams won games that season in which they gave up 38, 31, 21 and 20 points.

A budding dynasty and the relationship between Robinson and management began to crumble last year as the Rams finished 5-11, losing six of their final eight games.

The continued free fall this season led to Robinson’s decision to resign.

Robinson, 56, walked away from his Ram experience with a 79-73 record, plus Sunday’s season finale in Seattle. He has won more games than any Ram coach, but this isn’t the way he wanted to leave.

“I think there’s a point where you can say, ‘Yes, we can (make the team competitive again), or, no, we’re dead in the water and can’t continue to function.’ ” Robinson said recently.

And now the Rams and Robinson have reached the point of no return.

Robinson says he might take a year off to “sniff the roses,” in which case 1992 will be the first year since 1975 that Southern California won’t have Robinson to cheer or kick around.

In 1976, he was named to succeed John McKay at USC. His first year as a major college head coach was much like his debut in the pros. He was named Pac-10 and West Coast coach of the year and became the first rookie head coach in 25 years to take his team to the Rose Bowl.

During seven seasons at USC, Robinson compiled a 67-14-2 record and won three Rose Bowls and a Bluebonnet Bowl. The Trojans lost only once in the postseason during his tenure, losing in the 1981 Fiesta Bowl.

He coached 18 All-Americans at USC, including 1979 Lombardi Award winner Brad Budde and Heisman Trophy-winning running backs Charles White and Marcus Allen. In 1981, Robinson’s power running game helped Allen become the first collegiate back to gain 2,000 yards in one season.

“I’ve been 16 straight years in Southern California,” he said. “These have been great years--13 out of 16, we had winning years.

“As you look over my eight (complete) years with the Rams . . . you say, ‘Well, the Rams went through an up-cycle in those eight years--six playoffs, two championship games, no Super Bowl, but now they’re in a decline.’ ”

With the decline has come John Robinson’s fall.