Don Robbins
American football player and coach From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald Roy Robbins[1] (October 27, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American football coach.[2] He was the head coach at the University of Idaho from 1970 through 1973, compiling a record of 20–24.
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 27, 1933 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | September 18, 2020 (aged 86) College Station, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Texas A&M University B.S., M.Ed.[1] |
| Playing career | |
| 1953–1955 | Texas A&M |
| Position(s) | End |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1957 | Texas A&M (Freshmen) |
| 1958 | Port Arthur HS (TX) |
| 1959–1960 | Snyder HS (TX) |
| 1961–1962 | Big Spring HS (TX) (assistant) |
| 1963–1965 | Big Spring HS (TX) |
| 1966–1967 | Texas Western / UTEP (DL) |
| 1968–1969 | Idaho (DL) |
| 1970–1973 | Idaho |
| 1976–1990 | Big Spring HS (TX) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 20–24 (college) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1 Big Sky (1971) | |
Playing career
An identical twin born in Fort Worth, Texas, Robbins grew up primarily in Breckenridge, one of three sons of football coach Cooper Robbins, Sr.[3][4] Along with twin brother Ron, he graduated from Breckenridge High School in 1952, where his father was the head football coach for seven seasons (1945–1951), then became the freshman football coach at Texas A&M in 1952, and son Don played for him that first season.
Following Robbins' sophomore season, Paul "Bear" Bryant was hired as the head coach at A&M and Robbins was a member of the Junction Boys as a junior end in September 1954. He graduated in 1956 and later earned a master's degree in education from A&M.
Coaching career
After coaching in Texas at Big Spring High School, Robbins became a collegiate assistant coach in 1966 at Texas Western (renamed the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 1967) under head coach Bobby Dobbs.[5] After two seasons in El Paso, he was hired as an assistant at Idaho in April 1968 under first-year head coach Y C McNease.[6][7][8]
When McNease was dismissed after spring drills in May 1970,[9][10][11][12] Robbins was promoted to head coach of the Vandals.[11][12][13][14] His 1971 team had the best record in the history of the school at 8–3, but the next two seasons were less successful and he was dismissed in November 1973.[15][16][17] He was succeeded by Ed Troxel, an assistant under Robbins and his two predecessors (and the head track coach).[18]
Robbins returned to Big Spring High School as head coach and athletic director in 1976.[19] After retirement, he lived in College Station and died in 2020 at age 86.[2]
Head coaching record
College
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho Vandals (Big Sky Conference) (1970–1973) | |||||||||
| 1970 | Idaho | 4–7 | 2–2 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1971 | Idaho | 8–3 | 4–1 | 1st | |||||
| 1972 | Idaho | 4–7 | 2–3 | 5th | |||||
| 1973 | Idaho | 4–7 | 3–2 | 3rd | |||||
| Idaho: | 20–24 | 11–8 | |||||||
| Total: | 20–24 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
References
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