Ol' Ricky's Redskins Tales

Ol’ Ricky is now writing about his 10th Redskins head coach and lost track of how many assistants, but his favorite will always be Terry Robiskie.

“T-Ro” is a man’s man. No curse word unused, no physical play exempted. You send one of his to the hospital, he sends one of yours to the morgue.

Robiskie was the receivers coach under Norv Turner from 1994-98 before promoted to passing game coordinator in 1999. The team liked Robiskie’s tough atmosphere in a room of spirited receivers like Michael Westbrook and Albert Connell. Robiskie’s job was to toughen them up and among other things block downfield for others. It’s often the difference between a 10-yard gain and a long touchdown.

Robiskie wasn’t easy on players. Connell took a swing at the coach on the sideline once and Westbrook certainly mumbled about the coach under his breath. If there was a commotion going on, chances were Robiskie was involved. Years later, when Robiskie was part of a staff on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” fans were amazed by coaches’ rough language. Hey, who do you think taught me those words? All part of the warrior’s lifestyle.

When Turner was fired with three games remaining, owner Dan Snyder wanted to name Pepper Rodgers as interim coach. Defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes and Robiskie refused to call plays under Rodgers. Snyder finally backed down and wanted Rhodes, who yielded to Robiskie.

Now Terry played the game well for three weeks. He said if Snyder wanted the interim head coach to move his desk, Robiskie would move it. The lifelong assistant knew it was a rare chance to be a head coach if even for a few weeks. Indeed, 20 years and six teams later, Robiskie is now Jacksonville’s running backs coach. He was 1-4 in 2004 as Cleveland’s interim coach, but head jobs are hard to obtain so Robiskie was willing to take a short-term deal.

After losing his first game, Robiskie benched quarterback Jeff George for changing plays not at the line, but on the sidelines before possessions. The two exchanged heated words in the Redskins Park hallways (right in front of me) when George vowed to get Robiskie fired. But, nobody intimidates Robiskie and he went right back at the player who himself wouldn’t last long the following year under coach Marty Schottenheimer.

One day at practice, I hear someone yelling my name. I look all around and suddenly see Robiskie waving to come to midfield. This is during practice. I said no. You can get hurt out there with everyone going full speed in many directions, but he pulled me out there.

I asked what Robiskie wanted. He said nothing, just wanted to anger the Washington Post writer on the sideline Robiskie didn’t like. After a few minutes, the PR guy comes out and raises hell about being on the field. Robiskie said I was staying and threw the PR guy out. I only stayed a couple more minutes after points were made, but that was one weird moment.

Robiskie and I were good friends and though I haven’t seen him for years I’m sure we’d pick right back up. Warriors code and all.

Tomorrow: Ol’ Ricky remembers former Redskins president and big-time lawyer Edward Bennett Williams. Lots of stories in my book and these are the types of tales I’ll tell on my “Pizza and Pigskins Tours” later this summer.

Rick Snider is an award-winning sports writer who has covered Washington sports since 1978. He first wrote about the Redskins in 1983 before becoming a beat writer in 1993. Snider currently writes for several national and international publications and is a Washington tour guide. Follow Rick on Twitter at @Snide_Remarks.