J Robinson talks to heavyweight Michael Kroells at the NCAAs in St. Louis (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)Robinson was one of three Golden Gopher varsity sports coaches to receive contract extensions without a raise, along with men's track and field/cross-country coach Steve Plasencia whose contract was extended to June 2018, and women's rowing coach Wendy Davis, with a contract extension through June 2017, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. Three other Minnesota coaches -- men's basketball coach Richard Pitino, women's basketball coach Marlene Stollings, and softball coach Jessica Allister -- received raises with their contract extensions. In early August, football coach Jerry Kill received a raise.
Robinson, 69, took the helm of the Minnesota wrestling program in 1986. During that time, the Gophers have claimed their first three NCAA Division I team titles in 2001, 2002, and 2007 (and runner-up status six times), with 62 individuals earning NCAA All-American honors, and 14 individual NCAA champs. The coach affectionately known as J Rob has also guided Minnesota to six Big Ten conference team titles, with 30 Gopher wrestlers accounting for 48 individual titles. His .751 winning percentage is a program record, and his 417 dual meet victories stand as the best record in Minnesota wrestling history.
Robinson ranks as one of the most honored college wrestling coaches. He was named the Dan Gable Coach of the Year by Wrestling Insider News (WIN) Magazine in 1998, 2001, and earned the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Coach of the Year award in 2001 and 2012. Robinson also has earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors seven times in his career, more than any other coach in the conference's history. In 2001, Robinson received the Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year award for his work and support of wrestling at all levels. In 2005, Robinson was welcomed into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.
Prior to taking the head coaching position at Minnesota, Robinson was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1976-84. In addition, Robinson served as an assistant coach on four consecutive U.S. Olympic squads - 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988 - and was the head coach for the United States at the 1983 Pan American Games. Robinson wrestled at Oklahoma State in the late 1960s, and participated in the ROTC program. He graduated in 1969 as a Distinguished Military Graduate, Distinguished Military Student and was offered a Regular Army Commission as a Second Lieutenant in June 1969. Robinson then attended Airborne and Ranger School (where he was an honor graduate) before beginning his first of two tours in Vietnam. Robinson then represented the U.S. in international competition, and was a member of the 1972 Olympic team that competed in Munich.
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