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BETHANY -- Brandon Robinson's first exposure to the Ohio Valley came in 2017, when he was hired as the first assistant coach for Wheeling University's fledgling football team. Five years later, Robinson now returns to the valley as a first-time head coach in charge of Bethany College's football program.
"The first thing that drew me to (Bethany) was it being in this area," Robinson said during a phone interview. "I love the Ohio Valley, in my time at Wheeling (University) I really loved the area and loved the people here."
Robinson was the first assistant coach hired by Zac Bruney when Wheeling was starting its football program in 2017. After three years as the Cardinals' offensive coordinator, Robinson took the same job at Division III Baldwin Wallace near Cleveland, Ohio.
Following two successful seasons with the Yellowjackets, Robinson had the opportunity to take his first head coaching job attempting to turn around Bethany's program.
"Once I did a little bit of a deeper dive into the school and the program, I think there's a ton of potential at the college and with the program in general," Robinson said. "I think we have a nice recruiting niche, and the school with a rich history and proud alumni all culminates together to be a great opportunity, not just to be a head coach, but to be a head coach with some success. I think the raw material to be successful is here, that's why I really went after this job aggressively."
The Bison have not enjoyed much success in recent years. Bethany went just 1-9 this past fall and the program has just one winning season in the last decade, a 6-5 mark in 2014.
"I think the biggest thing is creating our culture here," Robinson said. "That culture is seen everyday in our actions and our behaviors. I believe the foundation of a program is a strong culture."
Robinson said one of his biggest goals at Bethany is to draw in local talent from the Ohio Valley and surrounding tri-state area.
"The Ohio Valley with the OVAC and then Western Pa. with the WPIAL, it's not just good football programs, it's good young men that come from good families and love football," he said. "It's a really exciting area to recruit from and I really want to build this roster up with local guys from the Ohio Valley and Western Pa. That's something that's really important to me."
The Bison just wrapped up their spring practices last week and it was a couple of those local players who stood out the most to Robinson. He said the athleticism of defensive end Jordan Aldridge and wide receiver De'Vaughn McWhorter, both Wheeling Park graduates, has him excited for next fall.
"Jordan Aldridge from Wheeling Park really jumped out to me," Robinson said. "He's really got a great motor playing defensive end and I think he did a really great job this spring.
"On the offensive side of the ball, De'Vaughn McWhorter can run really well. We've got to get the ball into his hands and let him run and make some plays for us."
A native of Eaton, Ohio, Robinson plate dhis college ball at Ohio Dominican, where he was an all-conference wide receiver. His coaching career began as a graduate assistant for the Panthers, where he first met Bruney, then ODU's offensive coordinator.
After a year coaching receivers at Lindsey Wilson in Kentucky, Robinson was Bruney's first hire as he was starting the Cardinals' program in 2017.
"He was my first hire at Wheeling just built on that relationship we had built at ODU," Brunei said. "It was basically just me and him for the first eight months, just watching film until our eyes bled trying to get the recruiting cycle going for that first class."
Robinson said the experience of starting Wheeling's program from the ground up gave him a great opportunity to see all the aspects of how a football team is run.
"Being at Wheeling and starting the program from scratch was unique, there's no doubt about that," he said with a laugh. "When Zac and I first showed up, we had our two little offices and there was literally nothing else.
"I think it gave me a unique opportunity as his first assistant there, I got to be involved in everything. It didn't matter what it was, I got to be involved in it. That was really cool."
It was during that first year of building the program that Robinson said he fell in love with the Ohio Valley.
"That first fall, we just recruited the entire time so I got to spend a lot of time in the community, going to high school games and meeting people," he explained. "I just fell in love with the area and a lot of that has to do with that first year when I was at Wheeling."
Bruney said Robinson's professionalism and dedication always struck him as the qualities of a future head coach.
"When this opportunity came about at Bethany, I figured that we would be a strong candidate for that job," Bruney said. "Mainly, he's just a really good guy and a really high-character guy that's been a good leader of young men for quite some time. Him having the opportunity to take Bethany's program under his wing and give it a new direction and some new energy is a really good thing."
After three seasons with the Cardinals, Robinson joined the staff at Baldwin Wallace as the offensive coordinator, where he coached a top-tier offense this past season.
Following the truncated 2020 spring season, the Yellowjackets sported one of the top offenses in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) while building an 8-2 record in 2021.
Robinson's unit led the OAC in rushing offense at 2,394 total yards (239.4 per game) and scored the second-most rushing touchdowns (32). His quarterbacks also featured a sparkling 10-2 touchdown to interception ratio.
"Over the last few years I've kind of morphed into this spread-option attack," Robinson said. "We want to spread teams out and give our quarterback the opportunity to do some first-level reads to get a numbers advantage. Whether it's a light box and we can run the football or we've got a team that's crowding the box and we can throw on the perimeter."
One of the biggest changes Robinson faces now as a head coach is having to worry about the defensive as well as the offense, although he will have some help with long-time Bethany defensive coordinator David Arnold sticking around.
"He's done a great job here," Robinson said. "He has great relationships with our players and our players love him. I think our defensive personnel is really good and we're going to have to lean on them. Our plan to win this coming win is going to be that we need to play really good defense and run the football efficiently."
Even with spring practice now over, Robinson said he is still working around the clock to get ready for summer workouts and eventually the start of fall practice.
"Right now, it's pretty much non-stop from the morning until the evening, especially when I first got hired," he said. "It is a lot of work, there's no doubt about that."
Even so, Robinson said he feels well prepared to tackle his new position head-on, thanks in part to the list of accomplished head coaches he has been able to learn from over the years.
"The great thing is, I think I've had a lot of really great role models to look at," Robinson said. "My high school head coach to Bill Conley at Ohio Dominican to Chris Oliver down at Lindsey Wilson, Zac Bruney here at Wheeling and Jim Hilvert at Baldwin Wallace. I think I was very blessed to have a lot of head coaches to look up to and take things from. I've been very fortunate to have some great role models just to look up to and to take some things from to prepare me for this opportunity."