'Cause In College Coaching, You Fail Upwards

Is it truly possible that I could soon be living in the same zip code as Greg Robinson?   The only thing more common in January than USC winning the Rose Bowl is USC looking for new coodinators.  Former DC Nick Holt is joining former OC Steve Sarkisian in Washington, leaving Pete Carroll with the task of replacing both coordinators yet again.  He's already promoted from within to fill the OC role but as for the DC, well, it remains open. 

Could Greg Robinson be the man for the job?  Back in November I thought about the possibility of Greggers heading back West to his roots.  Especially given the connection he has with Carroll:

Seriously, the guy's got a Rolodex that would put most people to shame, if they actually still used a Rolodex. That's part of the reason Greg's here in the first place and a huge part of the reason he's been hired at all of his most recent jobs. His hiring here at Cuse was thanks in large part to Pete Carroll's thumbs up. Carroll and Robinson coached together at Pacific back in the day. Prior to that Robinson parlayed the kind words of former bosses Dick Vermeil and Mike Shanahan into the Texas DC job and added Mack Brown to his list of supporters. That list of vouchers also includes [former UCLA coach] Terry Donahue and Lions OC Jim Colletto. His lack of recent success aside, any one of these guys seem happy to pick up the phone and sing Greg's praises to the next coach interested in hiring him.

I still felt that UCLA, where Robinson once coached and even interviewed for the head coaching gig at one point, would be the more logical fit.  The local media would have a field day with Greggers if USC brought on a coach of his, um, reputation.

But it doesn't stop people from speculating.  The OC Register threw it out there.  So did the Press-Enterprise.  Even Rivals' Tim Dienhart thought Greg was worth noting, though Dienhart thinks Robinson could be a fit for the Bruins.

Going back to my article in November, so did I:

If there any program in Division-1A that might be interested in Robinson's services, it could be UCLA. Greg coached at UCLA from '82-'89 in various positions under Terry Donahue. He's from Los Angeles and will certainly be looking for comfortable surroundings that are as far away from Syracuse as possible. Dick Vermeil is a UCLA guy, as is Jim Colletto. Not to mention the fact that Robinson was once under consideration to be head coach. for the Bruins in happier times. Athletic Director Dan Guerrero was the man in charge then and he still is now. It might have been even more likely had Karl not been fired after last season. Dorrell was a [Mike] Shanahan disciple.

Smart money is on Carroll promoting secondary coach Rocky Seto to DC before hiring from the outside.  But if Greg Robinson made a call, I'm sure Pete would at least take it.