Robin Pflugrad begins his third season coaching the Ducks’ wide receivers after spending five years mentoring the tight ends and serving as recruiting coordinator at Washington State.

The 49-year-old Eugene native, who was elevated to the Cougars’ assistant head coaching position in 2003, brings with him 28 years of coaching experience -- 27 of those at the collegiate level -- as well as 13 seasons of experience in the Pacific-10 Conference under his belt. The 1976 North Eugene High School graduate returned to his hometown in a professional capacity for the first time since 1981 but is enjoying his first association with the University of Oregon.

Pflugrad’s wideouts accounted for 19 of the team’s 26 touchdown catches in 2007, as the Ducks set the school standard for total offense. But perhaps his most impressive contributions were being able to deal with losing a pair of starters to season-ending injuries and the development of three true freshman receivers, including converted safety Jeffrey Maehl, who each caught at least one scoring pass.

Among his accomplishments thus far with the Ducks has been elevating the play of Jaison Williams, who began his sophomore season in 2006 with 15 career catches before grabbing 68 to rank second in the Pac-10 and 19th nationally. This past season, Williams ranked fifth in the conference with 844 yards and tied for third with eight touchdowns among his team-high 55 grabs. In addition, he aided the development of Jordan Kent, who was chosen in the sixth round of the NFL Draft after playing the game for only two years.

While at Washington State, Pflugrad was responsible for coordinating the recruiting efforts of its 2004 class which was considered its most decorated in school history. Among his many successful pupils was the Pacific-10 Conference’s second-team all-league tight end from 2006, Troy Bienemann. During his tenure, the Cougars paced the league in passing offense in 2001.

Throughout his career, he has played a role in the development of seven quarterbacks or receivers who have claimed All-America acclaim, 28 all-conference honorees, 152 academic all-conference student-athletes and 12 academic All-Americans. He coached with two schools (Arizona State in 1996; Washington State in 2002) that represented the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Portland State in 1980 before spending one year as a receivers and secondary coach at South Eugene High School in 1981. Pflugrad returned to Portland State for a four year-stint in 1982, first as a part-time assistant coach and director of football promotions and later as a full-time assistant working with wide receivers and tight ends.

From there he migrated to the University of Montana (1986-94) to work with the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers, and was promoted to assistant head coach in 1991. Among his standouts was Dave Dickenson, who won the Walter Payton Award (given to the most outstanding player in NCAA Division I-AA), broke 25 school records and three national marks, and came close to helping the Grizzlies beat the Ducks in Eugene in 1993. (Oregon won, 35-30.)
He helped lay much of the foundation for the 1994 Montana team which claimed the NCAA I-AA national championship.

Pflugrad moved to Arizona State (1995-2000) as recruiting coordinator and receivers coach. He spent the spring of 2001 as offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Northern Arizona before receiving his opportunity at Washington State prior to the 2001 season.
The 1980 Portland State graduate in business administration earned academic All-America honors as a wide receiver and team captain as a senior in 1979.