Meet Sprague High’s new football coach
AJ Robinson coached six seasons at Churchill of Eugene, played for Western Oregon
The search for a new head football coach at Sprague High School has been completed in short order. The successor to longtime coach Jay Minyard is former Churchill High coach and ex-Western Oregon quarterback AJ Robinson.
The 34-year old Robinson is the son of longtime Silverton and Redmond coach Robby Robinson, who guided the Silver Foxes to a 3A state title in 1991, when AJ was a toddler. I got to meet AJ several times when he wandered the halls at Silverton and stopped by the classroom that I shared with his dad.
AJ was an outstanding prep quarterback for first his father, followed by coaching icon Craig Ruecker in the early 2000s, winning all-conference honors at Redmond, and passing for nearly 2,000 yards and 21 TDs his senior season while winning a first round 6A playoff game.
Robinson then moved on to Western Oregon University, where—despite being an undersized QB—started his senior season after five years in Monmouth, throwing for 1100 yards and nine touchdowns for the Wolves in an injury-shortened season.
What most Sprague fans are rightfully focused on is Robinson’s coaching resume’. In a word, it is impressive.
AJ served as an assistant at West Albany High under legendary coach Randy Nyquist for four seasons, and then followed him to Oregon City High School for one year in 2015. He became head coach at Churchill High in 2016, compiling a record of 36 wins and 21 losses.
Included in Robinson’s six seasons at Churchill are the two best offensive years in Lancer football history. Churchill went 12-1 in 2017, and lost 38-35 to Hermiston in the 5A championship game. That was followed by a 9-2 season in 2018. The Lancers recorded their two best scoring seasons in those years, averaging 50.1 and 40.8 points per game, respectively in Robinson’s multi-set, spread offensive system.
When Robinson stepped down as Churchill’s coach in January of 2022, he did so reluctantly, but admitted the COVID pandemic had taken its toll on him.
“It (was) a challenging couple of years with COVID and all the demands that came with that,” Robinson told OSAA Today.
“As the pandemic continued on, I just thought it was important for me to take care of my physical and mental health, and just make me and my family more of a priority.”
Look for Robinson to jump right into the Olympian football community. He was named as the 2017 Lane County Inspirational Coach of the Year in addition to winning conference coach of the year honors in 2017 and 18. He served an organizer of a Lane County football passing league with over 1,000 athletes involved.
Robinson says he is proud to serve as the head of the Oly football family, and he plans to continue the school’s championship tradition.
“We will build upon the solid foundation that already exists and grow the football program to a level that our community will be proud of,” he said in a prepared statement.
Robinson also shared in an interview that he welcomes the challenge of coaching the perennially successful Sprague program.
“You want to coach at schools that care about the team’s success. I want people to care about winning,” he said determinedly.
“I want the stands packed. I want that kind of positive, competitive atmosphere.”
- New Sprague Head Football Coach AJ Robinson
“I want the stands packed. I want that kind of positive, competitive atmosphere.”
Sprague Athletic Director Clinton Gertenrich says Robinson will be on campus soon to meet with student-athletes.
Congratulations AJ!
I had the opportunity to coach softball with AJ's dad Robbie at North Salem. I volunteered there for him and we made it to the quarterfinals in 2009 under his tutelage. He brought a winning culture that year and I believe that culture runs in the family. Looking forward to what AJ will bring to the Sprague program.