| The Raiders drafted Terry Robiskie in 1977 in
the eighth round, a round that no longer exists in drafts nowadays. They took him at one
man’s suggestion. "Billy Cannon," said Al Davis. "He called us and
told us to take this player from LSU."
Terry Robiskie. He was a running back, and he could play a little, not that he ever was
able to truly establish himself. In his three seasons in Oakland, he never carried the
ball more than 49 times. In his last season there, he carried it only 10 times before
moving on to serve two seasons in Miami. In his second season in Miami, Robiskie showed up
in only one game and didn’t even get a carry.
In ’82, Robiskie was on the Raiders’ staff, having been appointed a
"coaching assistant." A coaching assistant spends a lot of time breaking down
film. He doesn’t have a position to coach. If any of his peers want coffee, he would
be the guy expected to get it. Exalted these positions are not.
Robiskie worked and learned, and won advancements, eventually becoming the team’s
offensive coordinator. He was a Raiders coaching lieutenant for 12 years before moving on
to Washington, where he would become the passing-game coordinator for head coach Norv
Turner. Now Robiskie is Turner’s successor on an interim basis.
What we’re getting around to here is that Robiskie, 46, is a fellow who has paid
his dues. He is black, and not much comes easily for blacks in our society. Here is a man
who might not have been drafted had he not been recommended by Cannon, a convicted
counterfeiter. Robiskie did not play all that much, and his coaching origins could not
have been more humble. His story is like those that were popular in the ’20s. The
phrase "neat but threadbare" has to be part of it.
"He’s qualified," Davis said. "He was a player — a quality
player — and he played for us and then Don Shula in Miami and he coached for
us."
Whether Robiskie was a "quality player" can be questioned. But that
doesn’t matter. What I’m so laboriously getting around to here is that Robiskie
deserves something better than to have a man who has not been associated with professional
football in more than 25 years be sitting in judgment of his coaching future.
The reference is to Franklin Cullen Rodgers, better known as "Pepper." On the
day Robiskie was named Turner’s interim replacement, Rodgers was appointed by Daniel
Snyder to a newly created position as vice president of football operations of the
Redskins. Rodgers may not have the final say concerning Turner’s successor, but he is
going to have a say.
"How old is Pepper?" I asked a man current with the state of affairs in
Washington.
"About 100," he said.
He is actually 68. Rodgers, who had a pretty good run at Kansas, can be remembered in
my part of the world as UCLA’s head coach from 1971 to ’73. He did all right. He
went 19-12-1 (9-2 in his final season), then moved on to Georgia Tech, which had to be an
attractive appointment for the Atlanta native. By ’84, Rodgers was coaching the
Memphis Showboats of the USFL. In Memphis, he made a useful contact — Fred Smith,
founder and CEO of Federal Express, who would hire him.
The stadium in which the Redskins perform carries the Federal Express name, which makes
Federal Express a partner of Snyder. It also gave Rodgers, known as an accomplished
schmoozer, an entry to Snyder.
Rodgers became a member of Snyder’s "kitchen cabinet," frequently
showing up at Redskins’ practices. Very quietly, he served as Snyder’s point man
in contacts with Butch Davis, the University of Miami (Fla.) head coach who interested
Snyder.
Those around the Redskins suggest that Rodgers has convinced Snyder that he is close to
Steve Spurrier. A lot of people in the NFL would like to be close to the Florida head
coach, including, apparently, Snyder.
Snyder acted with his customary class, meaning none, in severing Turner. Following the
Giants’ 9-7 conquest of the Redskins, Turner was asked to stick around by the owner.
Turner waited two hours. He went home after Snyder left him dangling in the wind, only to
learn the following morning that his services no longer would be required.
Turner is of the "nice guy" school of NFL coaches. For Snyder to have treated
him so cavalierly was unconscionable. The wonder is that Turner was able to coexist with
Snyder as long as he did, about a year and a half.
Pre-Snyder, Turner barely survived the Redskins’ 0-7 start in ’98 —
saved only by the uncertainty concerning the club’s ownership structure. Turner also
might not have made it through ’99, but the club made the playoffs (defeating the
Lions 27-13, then surrendering to the Bucs 14-13) and he was safe — for a time.
The line on Turner, 48, is that he is brilliant with the X’s and O’s but less
impressive as a leader. His teams were 49-59-1 in his seven seasons in D.C. and just
9-20-1 in games decided by three points or fewer.
Snyder, a marketing whiz, is naive if he thought that by doing a George Steinbrenner
imitation and assembling a $100 million payroll he was going to win a pennant. His
acquisitions included too many players who have been too long at the dance, such as Bruce
Smith, Mark Carrier and Deion Sanders. A kicker would have been more useful; kicking
failures have contributed to three of the team’s defeats.
The NFL is a "young legs" league. The Redskins’ travails — before
Robiskie’s appointment, they had lost four of five games, including three straight at
home — were predictable.
Robiskie arrived at a propitious moment: prior to a two-week run in which the Redskins
would face Dallas and Arizona. In the season’s final week, however, the Redskins must
travel to Pittsburgh for what will be the final game in Three Rivers Stadium.
To perpetuate himself in D.C., Robiskie likely would have had to sweep those three
games. Snyder, of course, will be Robiskie’s ultimate judge, since Snyder has a hand
in everything relative to the Redskins. But Snyder will be listening to Rodgers.
Robiskie deserves a more enlightened tribunal. Just because a man can drawl
doesn’t mean he is qualified to judge another man who has put the better part of a
lifetime into the game.
Jerry Magee has covered pro football for the San Diego Union-Tribune since 1961 and for
PFW since its inception in 1967. |
