As soon as Justin Sinz heard there may be an opening for a defensive graduate assistant coach at Purdue, he texted buddy Sean Robinson.
Sinz knew Robinson was interested. Robinson had been before, having entertained ideas of nabbing a GA spot last season with the Boilermakers but ultimately winding up at Central Michigan.
But with Sinz now in the mix, too — he'd gotten hired in January after telling Darrell Hazell of his interest last October — that made the opportunity for Robinson even sweeter.
So Robinson reached out, expressing interest again to Hazell, and when Hazell called to officially ask Robinson if he'd take the gig, Robinson didn't hesitate. He packed up his stuff and left Central the next day.
Now, Robinson and Sinz are together again in West Lafayette, just two years after finishing their Purdue playing careers together as captains.
"It’s obviously really special," Robinson said Tuesday, plopped down on a leather couch alongside Sinz in the football lobby in Mollenkopf. "This kid got married last summer, and I was in his wedding. Now we get to work together. We lived together. We’ve sweated (together), played together, do everything together, and this is just the next chapter of being together."
Sinz will be working with new offensive line coach Darrell Funk, as well as pitching in to help the tight ends and Terry Malone, while Robinson is back in a familiar spot alongside linebackers coach Marcus Freeman.
Despite being on opposite sides of the ball, being able to share experiences daily on this new journey — this is Sinz's first GA job, though he did informally help at some Purdue practices last season — will be cherished. Robinson already knows of the grind of a season after going through it at CMU, and having one of his best friends in the same office will help ease that, he said. Sinz hopes so, too.
"We were pretty excited about the possibility and to know that we’re living it out together, it’s pretty fun," Sinz said. "My wife gets mad because she doesn’t get to see her college friends anymore, and I just told her, ‘Hey, mine just moved right back and worked with me.’ "
With spring ball not set to begin until March 8, Robinson and Sinz mostly are spending time learning Purdue's new systems from coordinators Ross Els and Terry Malone. Plus, they're doing "whatever our guys tell us to do," Robinson said.
Freeman makes sure to poke his head into the defensive GA office, a glorified closet that has two desks, and check in on Robinson throughout the day to keep him accountable and on track. It's really not that much different of a relationship than the one the two established when Freeman was Robinson's position coach, Robinson says. Freeman has the same standards and expectations for his GA and he does for his players.
Sinz, though, steps into a bit of a different situation.
There was a chance Sinz could have ended up helping new quarterbacks coach Tim Lester and receivers coach Gerad Parker, whom coached Sinz at tight end. Though Sinz has a group of role models in coaching because he grew up around football - his dad transformed a high school program in Wisconsin into a powerhouse - Parker's influence has been significant.
"Coach Parker my last two years here kind of shaped, to a certain extent, the person I am," Sinz said, "just the way he demanded stuff from his players, the way he taught and the way he cared about us."
It would have been special for Sinz to work with Parker daily. Instead, the other offensive GA hire is expected to be a skills position-type, so that shifted Sinz to offensive line and tight ends. But Sinz is eager to learn from a new coach and also be challenged at a new position. Sinz said Funk has "taken me under his wing."
"It’s been good for me," Sinz said. "In terms of just learning from someone else, I think it’s always good to hear different ways of teaching things, especially with the offensive line it’s a whole different system of those five guys (as a unit). It’s a lot different than tight end or quarterback where you’re coaching one guy at a time. If I want to keep coaching beyond this and continue down this route, obviously learning what the core of your offense is doing is a pretty vital part in your development as an offensive coach. I think in the long run, it’ll certainly be beneficial, too, to not only to learn from someone new but to develop the skills in terminology or techniques, just to further your knowledge."
Once spring football starts, Robinson and Sinz likely will have a bit more action. There will be film to evaluate, more positional meetings to attend and a better chance to feel out their roles as it relates to handling players.
Robinson actually has played with some of the guys in the linebacker room, and he's had conversations with Freeman about how to navigate those dynamics and when to speak up in a meeting setting.
Sinz knows his is a feeling-out process, too, and once he understands the offense and the technique better, he could be more likely to speak up.
Either way, it should be an incredibly informative time over the next, as both explore coaching in a new way, in a familiar place.
"It's great," Robinson said. "Every one has welcomed me with open arms. I spent five years of my life here, so it’s really just coming back, I guess, to my second home in a sense. Both of us, obviously, have a huge group we’re connected with. So it really wasn’t that big of a transition."
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