Why I Coach: Christian Robinson

It's November 15, 2010, and Christian Robinson is sitting outside of Jordan-Hare Stadium wondering about his future.

Just a sophomore, Robinson earned the start in a 3:30 CBS SEC Game of the Week for the Georgia Bulldogs who were on the road to play Cam Newton's Auburn Tigers. Although he earned the right to start he would only play one series.

"On the opening series, I had a missed fit. Cam Newton runs it up the sideline and we don’t get him down. He scores. It’s probably playing on his Heisman reel," Robinson told Gators Territory. "After that play, I got taken out and I didn’t play another down of defense the rest of the game. I remember Coach Grantham going off on me probably an iconic Coach Grantham screaming tirade.”

This was in a time before the transfer portal, which meant sitting out a season, and here Robinson was sitting outside the stadium after a 49-31 loss that he was yanked out of just a series into.

That's where Robinson's first coach stepped in.

Ken Robinson is a former NFL player and a long-time coach. He's a man of morals and integrity and standing next to his son he knew this was a crossroads. Ken was Christian's coach from early in his life all the way until Christian left for the University of Georgia but he's also a father and he can see that his son is hurting and uncertain. Robinson could leave, go somewhere that he felt wanted or he could stay. Staying would mean proving his worth, earning his reps back, and showing Todd Grantham that he needed to be on the field.

“I’m sitting outside of Jordan-Hare Stadium and my dad is like, ‘this is what you gotta do. If you’re not getting it done that’s not going to change if you go somewhere else. It’s going to show up eventually," Robinson recalled to Gators Territory. "You might as well figure it out here and just make him have to put you out there."

He stayed at Georgia and earned that starting job, then during his junior year, another huge game, this time Steve Spurrier, Marcus Lattimore, and the South Carolina Gamecocks are in Athens. This day is the start of the rest of Robinson's life.

"I had the same dreams that everybody else had — to go play at the next level. My junior year we’re playing Marcus Lattimore and South Carolina and basically the last series of the game. In everybody’s mind, they’re thinking they’re about to punch this thing in. They’ve been unstoppable," Robinson recalled. "We kind of had a break down with one of our sides, it was soft on the defense and I was just straining to go make a play. I end up having to take on two offensive linemen by myself and I get folded up and they fall on my foot and I crack my foot. After that injury, I was never the same."

The work and effort that Robinson had done to get back on the field had paid off. He'd earned the trust of his coaches and he was back, then in an instant, he was hurt. Robinson missed the next two games before coming back and playing through the pain but, as he said, he was never the same. It was during that time where Robinson found a different passion. He couldn't make an impact on the field so he did what he could. Robinson helped in the film room, meeting rooms, and on the sideline and Georgia went on to win 10 games. He found a purpose, one he didn't expect to, while not being a major contributor on the field.

Robinson returned for his senior season tallying 47 tackles for a 2-loss Georgia team and he continued chasing his dream of playing professionally. He went through pro day and then went undrafted but the St. Louis Rams gave him a tryout. When he worked out but wasn't picked up Robinson called Grantham.

Just one week after he officially retired as a player, Robinson was back in Athens to start his coaching career as a graduate assistant. Imagine going back to school one year after you left to coach your former teammates, not to mention the thankless nature of the graduate assistant coaching position at the college level. Little to no pay, long hours, and no recognition. It can burn you out and it almost did just that.

"You find out that there’s a lot that goes on that the players don’t understand, all the work you do upstairs," Robinson said."

The work is never-ending. You're at the stadium early in the morning to get the day planned and ready. Then meetings, lifting, practices, more meetings, film review from practice, and before you know it you're walking through a dark empty parking lot to your car well after midnight and you need to be back at the facility in a few hours. Just enough to grab food, sleep for a couple of hours and find coffee on the way back to do it all over again. Robinson did that for a year before Grantham left for Louisville and was replaced by Jeremy Pruitt. Somewhere in there, Robinson lost his passion for coaching and for football.

“I actually quit. I got out of football for four months and I was about to take a job up in Nashville, basically social media marketing with college athletes. I was ready to walk away," he said.

A call came from Ole MIss and Robinson took the job. He spent some time in Oxford before reuniting with Grantham at Mississippi State and then Florida.

What Robinson didn't expect as a sophomore getting one of his first starts against the eventual National Champion Auburn Tigers is that being a part of someone else's success can be equally, if not more, gratifying than achieving success on your own.

"It’s about enriching these kids' lives. If it was all about winning championships, there’s only one team that wins the championship. Us as coaches, we better have more reasons to do this than just winning championships. It’s about those personal wins that you get. A kid that comes from somewhere that maybe he’s the first person to go to college or he comes from a rough situation. If I can help teach him skills, get his degree, and help him understand what it takes to create a new life, that’s a win," Robinson said.

"That might not be how everybody else views it and I understand that. We are at Florida. it’s the toughest conference at a school that’s used to winning championships. That’s a part of the job. You also have this other side where you better create value in your players' lives other than just football. I think that’s something that’s driven me to want to be a part of this and do this.”

Cut to 2018, Robinson is in his first year and Ventrell Miller is in his office crying. Miller was a standout at Kathleen High School in Lakeland, Florida but got wrapped up in the Florida credit card fraud scandal in 2017. He was suspended the whole year, taking a redshirt before the coaching change. Now, as a redshirt freshman, Miller was basically a special teams player with bigger goals and a clouded vision of what his role would be at Florida. Robinson flashed back to himself sitting outside of Jordan-Hare. It helps to be as young as he is. He's not too far removed from the same emotions and feelings that his 18-21-year-old players are going through.

"Do I tell him no, you’re not ready or you’re not good enough? No. It’s let me tell you about a time where I just needed to keep working on myself to get closer to my goal. To become the player and focus on the right things. Not that I’m not playing. Not playing is not, that’s not the issue. The issue is being prepared to go excel on that field because I’m not going to put you out there if you’re not ready," Robinson told Miller. "Being able to share a story and an experience, now he gets it and I use him for other people and it continues on. Providing those conversations where you can relate and understand. We’re all trying to make people better and influence people for good. I think that’s always stood out to me because I felt the way that he felt and I bet he’ll share that story one day with someone else when they need it.”

Robinson admitted that the grind is a lot, it even made him leave the profession at one point. It's not just X's and O's, schemes and game plans. The coaching staff goes over every minute of their player's lives. They're coaches, event planners, therapists, tutors, life coaches, and mentors for young men that they're not even related to. They take time away from their wives, kids, girlfriends, and fiancé's to try and make an impact on the lives of others.

"There are things that when you get older, you know I might forget what the players are thinking about sometimes and I got to say, hey, hold up I remember being upset because I missed a tackle in a crucial moment. That could rock someone’s whole week. To me, it’s hey, move on, I want them to be resilient and move on but they're kids," Robinson told Gators Territory. "Everybody is going through something and everybody’s value system is different. As I moved into that next phase it really became clear how much these coaches care about their players. They’re willing to spend time away from their loved ones and their own biological kids to help these guys get where they want to go. I think that’s something that having a dad that was a coach, I saw him, and because he was my dad and a coach I was like I knew he cared about me at all times. I try to be that exact type of figure to my current players and say I’m here for you in other areas.

Robinson's passion doesn't only exist for the guys like Miller that make plays on Saturday. He has an entire room full of guys and for as much as he gushed about Ventrell Miller, Mohamoud Diabate, Lacedrick Brunson and the players you know but Robinson's voice ticked up a notch when walk-on linebacker Justin Pelic came up in our conversation.

"I can almost guarantee most (people) would never really know about but in our room is a vital part in what we do and the things we talk about is Justin Pelic," he said to a reporter who furiously started googling who the player was."

Pelic and his family knew what they wanted. They knew the education and the opportunities that a degree from the UF could provide and they wanted to be in Gainesville. So the Pelic's recruited Robinson and Justin eventually walked on in 2019.

"From the time he stepped into my room he's been nothing but an example of what we want people to be like here at Florida," Robinson said. "He busts his tail every day. He's basically the starting linebacker every week on scout team going against Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney. I think he has a 4.0. To do what he does academically and to do what he does football-wise so unselfishly he's almost unheard of."

That's a gratifying moment for a coach. To see a guy who works as hard as anyone else with none of the benefits of a scholarship player, be it financial or in terms of recognition.

Every player in his room and in the locker room is different. Trying to reach them all and learning what clicks or works with one player versus another is part of the job but surely isn't easy.

Maybe if Robinson doesn't miss that fit against Newton his trajectory changes. If he doesn't break a bone in his foot trying to take on two offensive linemen against South Carolina perhaps he goes on to get drafted and have a great career in the NFL. That wasn't his path and he's found his true purpose in life trying to make the lives of others better both on and off the field.