Terry Robiskie says Butch Davis was good enough to win a Super Bowl with Cleveland Browns

CANTON — Terry Robiskie shared a thought that would stun many Browns fans.

"If I ever won the lottery and bought a team," he said, "I would hire Butch Davis."

Davis resigned with five games left in the 2004 season, his fourth year as Cleveland's head coach. His record was 24-36. Robiskie moved up from offensive coordinator and went 1-4 as the interim pilot.

Robiskie and Davis went their separate ways, and the years rolled by. On Thursday, Robiskie savored a day in the sun in Canton.

A room full of people applauded the first recipients of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Awards of Excellence, which saluted 20 men who did great things behind the scenes.

Robiskie was one of five former assistant coaches honored, along with Alex Gibbs, Jimmy Raye, Fritz Shurmur and Ernie Zampese.

Robiskie spent 39 years as an NFL coach. His six years in Cleveland left a deeper impression than one might suppose.

He was in his mid-40s, long removed from his playing days, when his run as a coach in Washington reached a bittersweet ending. His friend and boss, Norv Turner, got fired with three games left in the 2000 season. Robiskie was promoted to interim head coach to finish out the season.

The new expansion team in Cleveland went 2-14 in 1999 and 3-13 in 2000. Owner Al Lerner wanted to give head coach Chris Palmer more time, but Lerner's right-hand man, Carmen Policy, talked him out of it.

Lerner and Policy flew to Florida and talked Davis into leaving the rising Miami Hurricanes to be head coach of the Browns. Davis needed a staff.

"Al  Lerner basically came and recruited me personally to come to Cleveland," Robiskie said. "He visited me with Carmen Policy. Al said, 'I've heard a lot of special things about you. I want the organization to be special. I need you to come and join us.'

"It was one of the greatest feelings I ever had."

Bruce Arians, who was Peyton Manning's position coach with the Colts in 2000, jumped to the Browns as offensive coordinator. Robiskie came on as receivers coach. The Browns spent Round 2 draft picks on Kevin Johnson in 1999, Dennis Northcutt in 2000 and Quincy Morgan in 2001.

The 2001 team was on the verge of improving to 5-2, needing only to hold on to a 14-point lead at Chicago with less than a minute to play. Somehow, that game got away, and the record leaked to 7-9.

In 2002, after a 2-4 start, Lerner died from cancer. Morgan caught a Hail Mary at Jacksonville to put the record at 7-6. Down the stretch, a miracle win at Baltimore and some tiebreaker magic left the Browns in the playoffs at 9-7.

A playoff game at Pittsburgh was a wonderland for a while. Robiskie's three second-round receivers all worked magic with QB Kelly Holcomb. The Browns led 33-21 with less than five minutes left.

Then it was 31-28, but the Browns were still in good shape when Holcomb feathered a pass right into Northcutt's hand for seeming a 20-yard gain. The ball went through Northcutt's hands.

"I remember being on the sidelines feeling good about everything," Robiskie said. "I had played for the Raiders and coached for the Raiders, and when we beat the Steelers, our next playoff game was going to be against the Raiders, my old team.

"It kept running through my head. 'We're going to play the Raiders! We're going to play the Raiders!' 

"Dennis dropped it. The Steelers put together a drive ..."

Pittsburgh won 36-33. 

Hope flickered the next season. The Browns took down the Steelers 33-13 and then beat the defending AFC champion Raiders 13-7 to improve to 3-3.

A 2-8 slump and 5-11 finish prompted Davis to fire Arians and turn over the coordinator job to Robiskie. The 2004 Browns won a rousing opener against Baltimore and were 3-3 before that season got away.

Davis' last game was a 58-48 loss at Cincinnati. Robiskie's first game as interim head coach was with rookie QB Luke McCown at quarterback, in for veteran Jeff Garcia, who sulked his way out of town. The opponent was defending Super Bowl champion New England.

Robiskie hoped to stay on as head coach for 2005, but it was hard to look presentable with a rookie fourth-round pick playing QB after a pouting Garcia went home to Gilroy, California.

Romeo Crennel became head coach in 2005, based on winning three Super Bowls in four years as New England's defense coordinator. 

Robiskie spent two more years in Cleveland as Crennel's receiver coach. Then he lived the nomadic life so familiar in his fraternity, working for the Dolphins, Falcons, Titans, Bills and Jaguars.

In reflecting on his career at the Hall of Fame on Thursday, he circled back to Davis.

"I played for some of the greatest coaches in football," he said. "John Madden. Tom Flores. Don Shula. I spent years with Al Davis. I worked for quite a few guys. The greatest enhancement to my coaching was the time with Butch Davis."

"I believe Butch could have won a Super Bowl as a head coach. He was knowledgeable, understanding, smart, technical, professional, detailed. His game plans were phenomenal. 

"I greatly appreciate the coach he made me. I know. People say, 'Now Terry, he didn't win in Cleveland.

"I'm telling you. If ever won the lottery and bought a team, I would hire Butch Davis."

Robiskie and the other honorees were introduced during a program emceed by Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts. About 300 people, including family members from all over the country, jammed the Hall's events center.

Robiskie's entourage included his son Brian, a former Ohio State receiver who was a second-round draft pick by the Browns in 2009.

"Brian is doing well," Terry said. "He's married to a beautiful girl. He's got a kid and a kid on the way, and he's living in Los Angeles. We play golf once a week. We go to dinner once a week. We hang out and we talk, just not a lot about football.

"I have two other sons, one who lives out there and another who will be moving there. I moved out there to be close to my grandkids. We're living a good life."

The Hall plans to make Awards of Excellence an annual event. Awards are presented in four categories.

In addition to assistant coaches, award winners recognized Thursday were:

Athletic trainers - George Anderson, Otho Davis, John Omohundro, Jerry Rhea and Fred Zamberletti

Equipment Managers - Sid Brooks, Ed Carroll, Tony Parisi, Dan “Chief” Simmons and Whitney Zimmerman.

Public Relations personnel - Joe Browne, Charlie Dayton, Joe Gordon, Jim Saccomano and Gary Wright.

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