Orgeron fills two staff vacancies
BATON ROUGE – Tommie Robinson and Mickey Joseph, two highly-respected coaches with a reputation of being outstanding recruiters, have joined the LSU coaching staff, head coach Ed Orgeron announced on Tuesday.
Robinson, who was recently named the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year, comes to LSU after spending the 2016 season at Southern Cal as the running backs coach and run game coordinator for Rose Bowl Champion Trojans. Robinson will serve as LSU’s running backs coach as well as holding the title of assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator.
Joseph, a native of New Orleans, joins the LSU staff after one year at Louisiana Tech where he coached running backs for the Bulldogs. Joseph will serve as LSU’s wide receivers coach.
“We are very excited to bring on board two outstanding coaches in Tommie Robinson and Mickey Joseph,” Orgeron said. “Mickey is well-known in our state and he has strong ties to New Orleans. He’s an outstanding coach with a great deal of experience on the offensive side of the ball. He’s an outstanding recruiter with a great work ethic and will be a tremendous addition to the staff.
“Tommie was recently named the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year and is considered one of the top running back coaches in college football. Tommie brings an impressive resume to our staff, one that includes six years of coaching in the NFL. He’s going to be a tremendous asset to our program and will be a great resource for all of us.”
Robinson’s coaching career spans 30 years, which includes three years with the Dallas Cowboys (1998-2000) and three with the Arizona Cardinals (2010-12). Prior to joining the USC staff, Robinson coached running backs at Texas for two years (2014-15). In 2013, Robinson was the running backs coach and passing game coordinator for Southern Cal.
Robinson has helped teams appear in 11 bowl games and the NFL playoffs twice. Other coaching stops for Robinson include serving as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1991, running backs coach at Utah State in 1992-93, four years as running backs coach at TCU from 1994-97.
After his three-year stint with Dallas, Robinson joined the staff at Oklahoma State, coaching running backs for the Cowboys in 2001. He followed that with four years at Georgia Tech, the first as wide receivers coach and then tight ends coach for the next three years.
Robinson coached the running backs at Memphis in 2006 and then held the same position at Miami (Fla.) from 2007-09 before returning to the NFL to coach running backs for the Cardinals.
Joseph brings over 20 years of coaching experience to the LSU staff. Prior to his one season at Louisiana Tech, Joseph helped turn around a Grambling State team that went 1-11 prior to his arrival to winning 16 games over the next two years.
Joseph was special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at Alcorn State in 2013, helping the Braves to a 9-3 overall mark, the most wins for the school in 30 years. Joseph spent six years at Langston University from 2008-13, which included two years as the head coach. Joseph led Langston to a 7-3 mark in his first season as head coach in 2011. He went 13-7 overall as the head coach at Langston.
Joseph got his first collegiate coaching job at Wayne State College in Nebraska in 1997, which he followed with a season at his high school alma mater Archbishop Shaw High School in New Orleans in 1998. From there, Joseph served as a graduate assistant at Tulane in 1999 and then coached receivers at Alabama State in 2000.
He coached quarterbacks at Nicholls State for three years (2001-03) and then spent two seasons as the running backs coach at Central Oklahoma (2004-05).
Joseph, who is the brother of the recently named Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph, played quarterback at Nebraska from 1998-91. As a junior Joseph led the Cornhuskers to a 9-3 overall mark after accounting for 21 touchdowns (11 rushing, 10 passing).
The hiring of Robinson and Joseph is pending approval from the LSU Board of Supervisors as well as a background check, per LSU policy.