Reports: San Jose State To Hire Greg Robinson As Defensive Coordinator

Dec 30, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Greg Robinson instructs his team during the first half against Oregon Ducks at Alamo Dome. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Veteran assistant coach Greg Robinson is set to become the new defensive coordinator for the San Jose State Spartans, according to multiple reports.

Coachingsearch.com first reported the story earlier this week and the San Jose Mercury News reported that the hiring has not yet been announced and could take awhile to become official, but cited a source confirming the move.

Robinson would replace Kenwick Thompson, who left to join former Stanford assistant Derek Mason’s staff at Vanderbilt.

Robinson would enter his 38th year in college or professional coaching in 2014. The native of Bakersfield played two seasons at Bakersfield College and two more years at the University of Pacific before joining the staff at UOP as an assistant in 1975.

After two seasons in Stockton, Robinson spent three years as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton (1977-79) and two years on the staff at North Carolina State (1980-81).

From there, he spent seven seasons as defensive line coach at UCLA and was the Bruins’ defensive coordinator in 1989 before making the leap to the NFL as defensive line coach for the New York Jets from 1990-93. He was the defensive coordinator for the Jets in 1994 before joining the Denver Broncos in the same capacity from 1995-2000, during which time the Broncos won two Super Bowl titles.

In 2001-03, Robinson was defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs before returning to the college ranks in 2004 at defensive coordinator at Texas.

His only head coaching experience was at Syracuse from 2005-08, when the Orangemen were just 10-37 and he was fired in November 2008 with two games remaining on the schedule.

He resurfaced at Michigan in 2009-10 as defensive coordinator and was fired with head coach Rich Rodriguez after that season.

After two years out of major coaching, Robinson returned to Texas as defensive coordinator last season. While never formally fired at Texas, Robinson was not announced as a member of the staff put together by new coach Charlie Strong.

Robinson was given credit for helping turn the Longhorns defense around in 2013 after replacing Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator two games into the season. After opening the season 1-1 and haviong been shredded for 40 points, 33 first downs and 550 rushing yards by BYU in a 40-21 loss on Sept. 7, former Texas coach Mack Brown turned to Robinson.

It took a bit—the Longhorns gave up 272 yards on the ground in a 44-23 loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 14, but from there, the worm began to turn.

Texas opened Big 12 Conference play with six straight wins, surrendering an average of 21.8 points per game in the process, before taking a 38-13 loss from Oklahoma State. The Longhorns did bounce back to hold high-flying Texas Tech to 16 points in a 41-16 win before losing their final two games to Baylor and to Oregon in the Alamo Bowl.

The Spartans ranked 105th in the nation last season, allowing 35.1 points per game and missed out on a second straight bowl appearance after going 6-6 in their inaugural campaign in the Mountain West Conference.