Donald Roy Robbinsacademics.utep.edu
- UTEP 1967-68 academic catalog - p.15 (born c. 1934) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He was the head coach at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, with a record

Playing career

An identical twin born in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, Robbins grew up primarily in Breckenridge, one of three sons of football coach Cooper Robbins, Sr. Along with twin brother Ron, he graduated from

Breckenridge High School Breckenridge High School is a public high school located in the city of Breckenridge, Texas and classified as a 3A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Breckenridge Independent School District located in Stephens County. In 2013, the sc ...

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 Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in 1952, and son Don played for him that first season. Following Robbins' sophomore season,

Paul "Bear" Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of t ...

was hired as the head coach at A&M and Robbins was a member of the

Junction Boys The Junction Boys were the "survivors" of Texas A&M Aggies football coach Bear Bryant's 10-day summer camp in Junction, Texas, beginning September 1, 1954. The ordeal became the subject of a 2001 book by Jim Dent, ''The Junction Boys'',

as a junior

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

in September 1954. He graduated in 1956 and later earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in education from A&M.

Coaching career

After coaching in Texas at

Big Spring High School Big Spring High School is a public high school located in Big Spring, Texas and classified as a 4A Division I school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). It is part of the Big Spring Independent School District located in north centra ...

, Robbins became a collegiate assistant coach in 1966 at

Texas Western The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

(renamed the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

(UTEP) in 1967) under head coach

Bobby Dobbs Robert Lee Dobbs (October 13, 1922 – April 2, 1986) was an American football fullback and coach. Early years After graduating from high school in Frederick, Oklahoma in 1941, Bobby entered University of Tulsa to play football for coach Henry ...

. After two seasons in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

, he was hired as an assistant at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

in April

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

under first-year head coach When McNease was dismissed after spring drills in Robbins was promoted to head coach of the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

.Robbins to replace McNease at Idaho
''Tri-City Herald'' Associated Press - 1970-05-17 - p.38 His

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

team had the best record in the history of the school at , but the next two seasons were less successful and he was dismissed in He was succeeded by an assistant under Robbins and his two predecessors (and the head Robbins returned to Big Spring High School as head coach and athletic director in 1976..e-yearbook.com
- Big Spring High School - ''El Rodeo'' yearbook - 1977 - p.177

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Don 1930s births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Identical twin males American football ends Idaho Vandals football coaches UTEP Miners football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football players High school football coaches in Texas Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas People from Breckenridge, Texas