Robinson Tells Team He Wants to Come Back

With his future at USC yet to be addressed by the administration, Coach John Robinson told his players Tuesday that he is coming back.

“I am probably coming back,” Robinson said later, clarifying what he said to the team. “Don’t put it as definite. I’m assuming the office door is still unlocked.”

Athletic Director Mike Garrett has maintained no assessment will be made until the end of the season, which probably will be extended by an Aloha Bowl appearance.

“That’s John,” Garrett said when told of Robinson’s remarks to the players. “My evaluation will be made at the end of the year.”

Robinson said the two have not discussed his status since USC’s regular season ended with a 6-5 record and a 31-24 loss to UCLA on Saturday.

“The issue has not come up,” Robinson said. “I have every expectation of being here.

“I am here and working and going on.”

Tuesday’s meeting was Robinson’s first with the players since the UCLA game, and it was partly to plan for a probable Aloha Bowl appearance Dec. 25.

Players who had been uneasy about Robinson’s future before the meeting emerged feeling more positive.

“He said he’s going to come back,” one player said. “He’s a guy who loves the sport and loves the game and is a great coach.

“It was: ‘I am coming back.’ ”

Robinson himself raised the issue he would not return in October, by saying after a 35-7 loss to Arizona State he would resign if USC didn’t turn its season around.

“If we can get out of it, we’ll move forward,” he said then. “If we don’t, then I think it would be appropriate for us to make a change.”

USC won four of its last six, although it didn’t beat a ranked team during the season for the first time in more than a decade.

Although Robinson apparently has decided he wants to stay, his statements Tuesday were made at least in part for the benefit of his players, who don’t know what to think of speculation about his future.

Robinson acknowledged that “somebody could still decide I’m not coming back.”

Robinson has four years remaining on a contract extension through 2001. The contract has a buyout clause.

Buoyed by the belief that Robinson won’t be a lame duck in the Aloha Bowl, USC’s players are scheduled to resume practice Tuesday as long as USC is picked for the game. That invitation--with Texas A&M;, Missouri and Oklahoma State as possible opponents--could be extended as soon as Friday if favored Arizona State beats Arizona and receives a Fiesta Bowl bid.

USC still could be picked if Arizona pulls an upset, in part because the Aloha Bowl covets the Southern California television market, but Aloha officials would also have to weigh the appeal of Washington, a ranked team.

“One thing he stressed in the meeting was everybody be positive,” cornerback Brian Kelly said. “Keep your hopes up.”