Saturday night, there was a new addition to the usual procession of Michigan football coaches, players and recruits who occupy the first few rows of Crisler Arena during Michigan basketball home games.

Greg Robinson, who was hired last week as the Wolverines’ new defensive coordinator, took an aisle seat three rows from the court and took the time to chat with the football players surrounding him.

About fifteen minutes before the Michigan faced Northwestern on the court, Robinson held his first official press conference since coming to Ann Arbor.

After being fired as Syracuse’s head coach with two games left last season, Robinson considered his coaching options. He decided to stick with the college game instead of going back to the National Football League, where he picked up two Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos.

“I could have seen myself going back to pro football,” Robinson said. “And that would have been fine. But I said there was something in college that still really excited me. I like college football.”

While he was entertaining offers from several places, Robinson placed just one call to put his name in for consideration for a job — to Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez.

During the Big East coaches’ conference in the summer of 2005, Robinson’s first year with the Orange, Robinson said he and Rodriguez developed something of a friendship — or at least, as friendly as two opposing coaches can be — while both were in the conference.

“I developed a comfort level (with Rodriguez) my first year at Syracuse, when we went to the Big East meetings,” Robinson said. “I found myself kind of gravitating to him. I noticed our wives got along together. That went on each summer.

"I like him. I think he's straight up. What you see is what you get. I know he's a heck of a football coach. I've competed against him. You get to know people like that. That's why I contacted him.”

Robinson first contacted Rodriguez about the position several weeks ago, but the Michigan coach wanted to wait for the bowl games to end before hiring someone. The two met up at the American Football Coach's Association conference in Nashville, Tenn. from Jan. 11-14 to talk about the job. On Jan. 20, Robinson was announced as the new coordinator.

He will immediately begin recruiting and working with the coaches to develop a defensive system.

“I'm a believer that you fit your system to the talents that you have,” Robinson said. “Philosophically, I'm a believer that you utilize your strengths and hide your weaknesses. Right now, for me, the most important thing is getting with these coaches, and really studying and analyzing what we have and how to utilize it.”

And although Rodriguez is known to be heavily involved on the offensive side of the ball, Robinson knows that the defensive scheme won’t be a one-man show.

"The word is coordinate," Robinson said. "I never think to myself it's just going to be one guy. When it gets like that, it gets lonely. You always want people to bounce things off of, contribute a thought or two."