VERMILLION, S.D. — Head football coach Matt Vitzthum rounds out his 2026 coaching staff with the addition of Byron Robinson Jr. as the Coyotes new cornerbacks coach. He's spent the last four seasons on staff with different FBS programs.
 
"As we started our process on hiring a new cornerbacks coach, it was very clear right away that Byron was the perfect fit for our program," said Vitzthum. "He has been around tremendous coaching staffs that have developed secondary players at an elite level. He is very hungry to continue our tradition of development in the secondary, and we are thrilled to have him in our program!"
 
Robinson Jr. spent the 2025 season on staff with Jimmy Rogers at Washington State University, where he worked as a defensive backs and special teams analyst on Rogers' staff with the Cougars. He then followed to Iowa State where he was also a defensive backs analyst.
 
"Thank you to Coach Vitzthum and Coach Kirch for the opportunity," said Robinson Jr. "I'm excited to be at South Dakota and ready to get to work. Go Yotes!"
 
Prior to joining Rogers on the Palouse, he spent the 2024 season in the Big 12 as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State University. Robinson Jr. worked with the defensive backs on Mike Gundy's staff in Stillwater.
 
The 2022 and 2023 seasons saw him on staff as a graduate assistant at Tulsa. He worked with the Golden Hurricane defensive backs and running backs in his two seasons in the American Conference.
He went to Oklahoma as the defensive backs coach at Northeastern State (Okla.), before leaving for the position at Tulsa ahead of the 2022 campaign.
 
He started his coaching career at the Division II level, coaching at the University of Sioux Falls for the 2021 season where he served as the Cougars' running backs coach. At USF, the Cougars went 8-3 (8-3 NSIC). Robinson Jr. coached First Team All-NSIC running back Thuro Reisdorfer.
 
Robinson Jr. started his playing career at Kilgore College (Texas) for his first two seasons in 2016-17. He finished his career at the FCS level, playing safety at Abilene Christian (Texas) from 2018-19. He played in 15 career games at ACU, playing in all 12 in his senior season in 2019.
 
He earned his bachelor's degree from Abilene Christian University in 2020 with a degree in kinesiology. He earned his master's degree in sports leadership from Tulsa University in May 2024.
 
COACHING HISTORY
2026-pres: South Dakota (Cornerbacks)
(Jan.-Feb.) 2026: Iowa State (DBs Analyst)
2025: Washington State (DBs and Special Teams Analyst)
2024: Oklahoma State (DBs Graduate Assistant)
2022-23: Tulsa (DBs and RBs Graduate Assistant)
2022: Northeastern State (Okla.) (Defensive Backs)*
[*on staff, left for Tulsa before the season commenced]