The Oregon Ducks football community lost a legend over the weekend when former player and coach John Robinson passed away at the age of 89.
Robinson played for the Ducks as a tight end before getting his first-ever coaching gig with the Oregon program in 1960. He was an assistant coach for the Ducks from 1960 until 1972 before he left for USC, where he would eventually get the first head coaching job of his career.
Oregon football mourns the loss of College Football Hall of Fame coach John Robinson.
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 12, 2024
Robinson played tight end at Oregon before getting his coaching start with the Ducks. pic.twitter.com/5Ynf06PPbD
Since retiring from collegiate coaching in 2004, Robinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009 for his success on the sidelines.
Robinson was an instrumental part in making the USC Trojans football program what it is known as a powerhouse. He led the Trojans to five Pac-8/Pac-10 Championships (1976, 1978, 1979, 1993, 1995), four Rose Bowl wins (1976, 1978, 1979, 1995), and one National Championship victory (1978).
As an assistant coach and later a senior consultant, Robinson won three National Championships and two Rose Bowls. He was the Athletic Director at UNLV, where he coached from 1999 until 2004, in the early 2000s, and was a senior consultant for the LSU Tigers from 2019 until 2012.
He was momentarily a high school head coach, after his collegiate coaching career, for San Marcos High School in California, just a few hours away from his alma mater: Junípero Serra High School.
The coolest (or maybe craziest) fact about Robinson is that when his family first moved to California, he attended a private secondary school with none other than future Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden.
Robinson lived from 1935 until 2024 and will forever be an Oregon Ducks legend.