Greg Robinson made one announcement everyone expected – and another few expected.

Robinson, the Syracuse football head coach, ended a month of speculation and hired former James Madison offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan as the Orange’s new offensive line coach. He also promoted linebackers coach Steve Russ to defensive coordinator – effectively removing Robinson from holding the dual title of coordinator.

The offensive line opening was created when Robinson fired Bob Wylie on Jan. 15, leaving a vacancy that was bound to be filled. But Russ’s promotion wasn’t expected from the outside, although Robinson said it was move that’s been planned since he first hired Russ.

‘A couple years ago when I hired Steve – Steve was the first person on the staff that I did hire – I told him that it was my intent that eventually he would take on the position of defensive coordinator,’ Robinson said. ‘I always knew that he would be capable. I just thought that it was time for him to jump back in our scheme as a coach.’

Robinson said he met with Russ after the 2005 season and they determined they’ll keep Russ singularly at linebackers coach for the 2006 season and promote him thereafter. The timing seemed curious, though, considering the season ended in November and there have been three changes to the coaching staff since.

The head coach wanted to wait for the recruiting season to end. Signing Day was Wednesday, and once the Orange finished with its class, Robinson and Russ finalized the promotion.

‘The decision was made over a year ago,’ Robinson said. ‘I just told Steve that after recruiting was over this year that we would sit down and get it done.’

The move comes a year after one of Robinson’s friends and mentors, Southern California head coach Pete Carroll, gave up defensive coordinator duties, too. Robinson said he’ll still have a significant role in the defense, although he won’t handle the day-to-day duties. He will now devote more time to offense, specifically with gameplan. Robinson emphasized it was by no means an indictment on the offense, although he will have more time to watch opposing defenses instead of just opposing offenses.

The promotion of Russ was natural for Robinson, considering Russ played linebacker for the Denver Broncos when Robinson was the defensive coordinator with the Broncos. They won the 1997 and 1998 Super Bowls together. Russ was the linebackers coach for Ohio in the four seasons before he came to SU in 2005.

‘My foundation is this defense,’ Russ said. ‘A big part of my foundation before I got to Syracuse was Greg Robinson because obviously when you first start out coaching and you have never coached before, you fall back on things that affected you and experiences that you had as a player.’

There was also a significant Robinson connection in the Wiesehan hiring.

The new offensive line coach was not considered a frontrunner for the job at the beginning, but received sterling recommendations from two trusted Robinson confidants – Detroit Lions offensive line coach Jim Colletto and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.

Colletto was Robinson’s position coach at Pacific and has had a diverse coaching career that’s included a head coaching stint at Purdue and various NFL and college assistant coaching jobs. Wiesehan was on Colletto’s staff at Purdue in 1996 and also coached with Wiesehan at Notre Dame from 1997-98. The running backs coach on that Notre Dame staff was Desmond Robinson, who is SU’s current running backs coach and was the one who originally brought Wiesehan’s name up to Greg Robinson three weeks ago.

‘As we worked our way through, I began to all of a sudden gather a little more information,’ Greg Robinson said. ‘I started really studying Chris. The more I studied, the more I liked.’

The 36-year-old Wiesehan has had a vagabond coaching career. He’s served various roles at James Madison, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Northern Arizona, Buffalo, Notre Dame, Purdue and Fort Hayes (Kan.) State.

The Buccaneers offensive assistant job was a major break in his career and a move that impressed Robinson. The SU job is Wiesehan’s next big break.

‘I haven’t done anything yet here in Syracuse, but I am looking forward to it,’ Wiesehan said. ‘We have a long way to go up front but we have a plan.’

Published on February 12, 2007 at 12:00 pm