Melvin Robertson (born May 25, 1928) is a former

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

coach. He was considered one of the top

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

minds in football during the 1970s and 80s. "Mad Dog" Robertson began his coaching career as an assistant under Bradley Mills at Odessa High School, before joining

Bill Yeoman William Frank Yeoman (December 26, 1927 – August 12, 2020) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Houston from 1962 to 1986. In his tenure, he became the winningest coach i ...

's staff at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s coach in 1965. In 1972

Emory Bellard Emory Dilworth Bellard (December 17, 1927 – February 10, 2011) was an American college and high school football coach and the inventor of the Wishbone formation. He was the head football coach at Texas A&M University from 1972 to 1978 and at M ...

, who had just been named

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, hired Robertson as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

. A&M was ranked No. 1 in total defense in 1975 under Robertson, who was known for his

blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

packages. Robertson followed Bellard to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

in 1979. "Melvin's got a great reputation in pro football, college football and high school football here in Texas as one of the top defensive coaches in the country," said former University of Houston Head Football Coach John Jenkins. Robertson is retired and lives in

Grapevine, Texas Grapevine is a city located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas, United States, with minor portions extending into Dallas County, Texas, Dallas and Denton County, Texas, Denton counties. Its population was 50,631 in the 2020 United States Census, ...

References

1928 births Living people American football defensive backs Houston Cougars football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches SMU Mustangs football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches West Texas A&M Buffaloes football players High school football coaches in Texas Players of American football from Grapevine, Texas {{1960s-collegefootball-coach-stub