Q & A With Orange Football Head Coach Greg Robinson

Head football coach Greg Robinson will lead the 2005 SU team on the field for the first time September 4 at the Carrier Dome when the Orange hosts West Virginia. Since his appointment as the leader of the SU football squad Robinson has guided his team through off-season conditioning and Spring practice, while focusing also on the future of the program through recruiting. From the day he started coaching, Robinson was focused on the position he currently holds. "I wanted to be a head football coach – a successful head football coach," Robinson said. The following provides more insight into the 27th head coach in SU football history.

Can you explain how the transition to becoming the Syracuse University head football coach went for you?

“It has been a whirlwind. There were a lot of things to cover. I started with the staff and I feel like things fell into place very, very well. I am very pleased and excited about the group. There is diversity in every way. They come from all over the country. At the same time I feel like we have a good foundation in the Northeast.

“I like to talk about the two E’s and the two I’s when I talk about the staff. Energy – they are a group that will go all day. Enthusiasm – you can feel it in a positive way. Intelligent – they are an intelligent group. I feel strongly about that. Integrity – they all have great integrity. I am very pleased that this group has that common thread that runs through all of us. I think we can all identify with each other. That is important.

“The recruiting process was obviously a catch up process, but it was also trying to establish some things. I think this staff will easily identify the profile of what we are looking for at Syracuse University. The profile is going to be one of balance socially, academically, athletically.

“We have established our philosophy in the recruiting process. We intend to build a wall around the state of New York. Re-establish Syracuse as the football school in the state of New York. Then we will attack our border states, knowing that we are so close to certain areas. We will treat them like in-state areas for us.

“Then, obviously, we focused the current team. The coaching staff has done a good job of establishing a relationship with the players and also their families. Letting them know that our goal is to develop them in all areas, socially, academically and athletically. We are establishing with our team and their families that our program is built around three basic areas – trust, discipline, and perseverance. How these areas are intertwined through every area that we deal with.

“I think what we are trying to establish right now is the theme of hard work, at the same time doing it in a way that is the enthusiastic way to do it. You can really still enjoy it while you are working very hard. I have seen progress in the off-season program the coaches and players alike. It is important to remember that it is not always how you start, but how you finish. The year will go by so quickly. It is broken into certain areas and we have to see it as that – the off-season conditioning program, Spring football, final exams, summer workouts, training camp, then the season. When you start putting it into pieces like that you realize what very little time you have and that you have to take advantage of every situation you can.

“It is very clear to me in coming to Syracuse how important the University, the community, the fans, the team, and the coaches, are to the program. This is all part of the community and it is a community that works off each other and needs each other. It is so important that everybody feels that they are sharing in the commitment for one goal and that is the success of this football team in every way. Our intent is to provide the University, the community and fans with a team that they will be proud of. This will be a team that will play with great enthusiasm. It will look like they have been there before. We will provide an entertaining game on both sides of the ball, as well as special teams, challenging the opponent in every way. To make everybody proud we must be successful. That is important. We must win and win in a way that we believe there will be an aura. People will want to emulate. We are going to be a team that, once we establish our successful ways, we will have humility to maintain our success.”

Has your career always pointed toward becoming a head coach?

“My goal is to be a successful head football coach. From the day I started coaching I wanted to be a head football coach. I have had such good fortune of working with so many good people and have been part of so much success. I am from a family of eight kids. When you are a family of eight kids it is all about a team. There are a lot of things that go into establishing a philosophy. There has been a lot of thought that has gone into this.”

What can you share about your family and how football became part of your life?

“My father was a prisoner of war in World War II – a pilot. Not that it was talked about much in my house at all, but it was there. It was rooted in all of us. Plus his legal background was rooted in all of us. My mother was an only child and then she had eight children. Quite a task. We were taught at an early age that it was all about hard work. Growing up we had a lot of great times as a family. At the same time we had tragedy. To lose three sisters before my parents passed was very hard on my parents, as well as the rest of my family. My brothers and sisters are very successful in raising families, as well as in professional endeavors. In my house it was three things – religion, law and football – and as I like to mention, not necessarily in that order. Those things ran through us in everything that we did. Everybody in my family lives through me, my sisters included, as far as being a football coach. My older brother played football at Stanford and wants to be my offensive coordinator (Mark) My younger brother was a quarterback at Pacific when I was coaching there (Jeoff). That was an experience. He wants to be my recruiting coordinator and quarterback coach. Between my sisters, Sandra and Corky, and Mark Jeoff, and Laura and I, we have 17 grandkids.”

How does your sense of family carry over to your coaching?

“I know why I got into coaching. It was through football that I really achieved to a level that I really felt like I was able to learn about myself and gain an inner confidence about who I am and what I am. You never quite have it all figured out, but I do know that through football I got over the hump. Through football I achieved academically. I loved football enough that I realized I had to get it right. In deciding to be a coach it was with the intent to give back to young people what I was able to achieve and to try to help them to do the same. I feel so strongly about the development of young people in the areas that we talked about. Socially, and spiritually as well. In a secular world, we don’t talk much about spirituality, but there is so much in our lives where it comes into play that I will share my thoughts or I will have others share their thoughts so our team is exposed to learning in areas like that. Our job is to help them develop in a social way. We have a responsibility to the University. There is an image that we must uphold. Academically – that is why they are here. Some have different types of aspirations, but they must achieve academically to be successful in football. A degree is paramount in their lives. Achievement in athletics is something we have been working toward for a long, long time in our lives. When I look at our staff and our team it is all working toward those things. Do you take a parental approach? Sometimes. Are we big brothers at times? Yes. There are different roles that we play as coaches with our team. I’d like to think that there is great depth to it. It is a lot of work.”

We have heard so much about your defensive philosophy? What should we expect to see on the field from your defense?

“Our goal is to be the best tackling team in America. We have a chance to do that this year. You start with a fundamental approach. That is number one – to be a great tackling team. We are going to be a team that creates havoc for the offense. A lot of people talk about it, but I believe we will do it. Our intent is to score on defense or get the ball back for our offense as quickly as we can. That is where the turnover game comes into play. We will be a team that is able to get that ball back for our offense quickly.”

How do you teach that?

“There is a lot that goes into it. If you are a great tackling team you will create problems. It starts with that. Turnovers you establish by challenging an offense in every way. Our intent is to be the aggressors. We want to put them on their heels. If we can establish that, we are in control.”

On the other side of the ball – what will your offense present?

“We will be sound fundamentally. We will have the ability to control the football through the air and the running game. When an opportunity is there for the big play, the offense will take advantage of it. We will be a team that is intent on ball security. We are not going to let people dictate to our offense. Our intent will be to dictate to the defense. Precision passing able to utilize the play-action pass off of the running game. Both sides of the ball will be strong on third down. We must do it on third down both offensively and defensively to be successful. That is part of the game that is sometimes overlooked.”

What is your funniest football story?

“I don’t know that. You will have to ask others. There are too many. I really like to think there are plenty of things to laugh about in football. There are coaches and players, everybody. It is such a serious game with so much intensity that you have to deal with, that you have to be able to laugh.”

You list your hobbies as running and golf. Are you a distance runner?

“Not right now (laugh). I get out and run three, four, five miles a day. But I am not extreme about it. There may be a time when I will get to a seven or eight mile run and I have run 10k’s. I am not obsessed, but it is important to me to. Golf, I love golf. I love it. My game does not look like I do because I am a coach playing golf, I am not a golfer coaching. I just feel like I am starting to make some progress in my game in the summer time and then pre-season camp comes so I have to go back to work and put the clubs up for seven months. But I do love it. It intrigues me.”

Syracuse University Athletics

Q & A With Orange Football Head Coach Greg Robinson

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