December 3, 1998

LAS VEGAS (AP) - UNLV is on the verge of signing John Robinson as its next football coach.

The former Southern California coach flew to Las Vegas on Wednesday to talk with UNLV officials and finalize a deal for the vacant job.

A press conference was scheduled for Thursday, apparently to announce Robinson's hiring.

Earlier, the Las Vegas Sun quoted an unidentified source as saying a deal with Robinson was "about 80 percent done."

Robinson, 63, declined to discuss his talks with UNLV, but told the Sun "it would be fun and exciting to try and build a program in a city that has as much going for it as Las Vegas does."

UNLV athletic director Charles Cavagnaro was said to be in meetings Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

Robinson would replace Jeff Horton, whose team won just four games in the last three seasons and has lost 16 straight.

Robinson, with two tenures as USC's head coach and another with the Los Angeles Rams, would bring instant credibility to the UNLV program, which will open play next year in the new Mountain West Conference.

Robinson was fired by USC following the 1997 season, after going 12-11 over the previous two years. Overall, in 12 years at USC he was 104-35-4.

In between his two stints at USC, Robinson coached the Rams for nine years, going 79-74 and reaching the NFC championship game twice.