In Spring of 2024, the TCFL Executive Board voted unanimously to create a new award to recognize one outstanding coach each year as the TCFL Jerome Robinson Coach of the Year. This award recognizes a TCFL coach or assistant coach who has gone above and beyond, for their own team and/or for our activity and league as a whole, during a competitive season.

Jerome Robinson is the former head coach at Granada Hills Charter HS, and a past co-president of the Tri-County Forensic League. After teaching for four decades, and coaching for just as long, Jerome retired in 2023, and was inducted into the California High School Speech Association's Hall of Fame in 2024. Jerome is cherished and remembered by many for his commitment to ensuring fairness and opportunity for generations of students. As a co-president, Jerome was always hard at work behind the scenes and shunning the spotlight. He was often the first on campus to help set up a tournament, and one of the last to leave to help clean up and shut down after the tournament had ended.

The TCFL considers the various coaching qualities that Jerome embodied--strong coaching efforts, impressive competitive success, and service to the greater speech and debate community--when determining the recipient for this award.