They Play a Mean Game of Texas Hold ‘Em

In Texas’ next-to-last home game, the Longhorns went into halftime against Oklahoma State on the wrong end of a 35-14 score.

The offense was moving the ball, but the defense wasn’t stopping the Cowboys and the defensive players figured they’d be getting ripped for giving up five touchdowns. But instead of yelling and criticizing his players, first-year co-defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, a veteran of 30 years of NFL and college coaching, simply told the Longhorn defense, “Oklahoma State will not score again.”

And the Cowboys didn’t. Texas held Oklahoma State without a point in the second half, and the Longhorns scored a school-record 49 consecutive points in a 56-35 victory.

“He brought a lot of intensity to the defense,” safety Phillip Geiggar said. “He has us running to the ball every play, and if you don’t, you deal with the punishment. That’s been the biggest difference on the field.”

Robinson, a Bakersfield native, coached at the college level for 15 years, including a stretch at UCLA from 1982 to 1989 under Terry Donahue. He spent the next 14 seasons coaching in the NFL, where he was the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos in consecutive Super Bowl victories.

Robinson joined Coach Mack Brown’s staff at Texas last spring after three seasons as defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. Although he helped turn the Chiefs into one of the league’s best turnover-creating defenses, Robinson resigned two days after Kansas City lost to Indianapolis, 38-31, in the playoffs last season.

Getting a chance to work at Texas gave Robinson new life. He joined the Longhorns as co-defensive coordinator, working next to Duane Akina, a 26-year coaching veteran, who has been at Texas since 2001. They replaced Carl Reese, who retired.

“It’s been a very smooth transition, one that I have enjoyed,” Robinson said. “It made me remember why I got into coaching. To say that I dreamed to be a professional coach is not true. I went into professional coaching, and with success, you just kind of stay, stay and stay. But I always felt that I would someday come back to college football.”

Two years ago, Robinson interviewed for the UCLA head-coaching position, but that job went to Karl Dorrell. He had other interviews but wasn’t sure that he would return to the college level until he got a call from USC Coach Pete Carroll, a close friend and former teammate at Pacific.

“I didn’t know that there was an opening at Texas,” Robinson said. “Pete and I have talked a ton since he’s taken over at USC, and I know how his transition has gone.... Kind of inspired me to look that way.”

But Brown was concerned with how everything would work. With former Hawaii and Arizona coach Dick Tomey -- an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers in 2003 -- on the staff as assistant head coach and defensive ends coach, Texas had a strong mix of former head coaches on defense.

“They have worked wonderfully together,” Brown said. “It’s amazing to see how smoothly that has worked without any problems. Having Dick Tomey, who has 24 years of head-coaching experience, sitting in the same room, I thought there wouldn’t be enough air in the room.

“They gave up the Kansas City defense, the 49ers’ defense, the old Texas defense, to develop a defense for our kids.... I’ve been more impressed with how they’ve worked together and the camaraderie that they’ve shown, than what they’ve been able to accomplish on the field.”

Brown said Robinson’s NFL background has added a dimension to the Longhorn defense. Texas wanted an attacking, aggressive defense similar to the one featured by Carroll.

“Greg has brought what Pete brought to SC, to us,” Brown said. “They’re great friends, raised together under [Tampa Bay Buccaneer defensive coordinator] Monte Kiffin. He brought a new energy to us, 14 years of the NFL, he saw the best quarterbacks in football.

“He brought from the NFL the ability to disguise coverages. He brought a better ability to mix man, zone and zone blitzes together so quarterbacks think that they are throwing into something, but they end up throwing into something else.”

Robinson never had to worry about getting respect from his players.

“Kids are very impressionable,” Brown said. “They want to win the national championships and play in the NFL. [Robinson] brought three national-championship rings and three Rose Bowl rings into our meeting room the first day he walked in. For a young guy like Derrick Johnson, who wants to be an NFL linebacker and be a No. 1 pick ... you see that and it’s pretty cool.”

For now, Robinson is happy to be at Texas and back in the college game.

“We do a lot of things that we did in the NFL, but that’s obviously limited,” he said. “You have a 20-hour practice rule [per week] and you’re dealing with college kids.

“Offenses are not as complex as they are in professional football, so you don’t need the complexities that you have in the NFL. We’ve emphasized [fundamentals] from Day 1.... Even today, we’re trying to be better today than we were a month ago, as opposed to just being a scheme team. We do a lot of things schematically and all that, but we’re fundamentally very good. We get off blockers well, we chase that ball and we tackle well. That’s our world right now.

“After being away for so long, I realize that I have a lot more to offer kids now than I did 15 years ago. It’s been a really good experience for me.”