Closing Plenary: The Difference Maker

Go Back

Terry Robiskie is a highly driven, motivated, and results-oriented professional with a 47-year-long, award-winning career in the National Football League (NFL) both as a player and a coach. Although he spent a fairly short period as an NFL player due to a career-ending injury, he exceled as a teacher and served as an assistant coach for the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders, and Jacksonville Jaguars. He is proud to say that 11 of the players he coached went into the NFL Hall of Fame. Coach Robiskie considers playing for three Hall of Fame Coaches – John Madden, Don Shula, and Tom Flores and training under Al Davis for 15 years as some of the true highlights of his career. Notably, he was among the first African-American players at Louisiana State University and among the first African-American coaches in the NFL. Off the field he started and served on the Board of the Fritz Pollard Alliance/union for minority coaches and also helped start the NFL Coaches Association, serving as Vice President. He was instrumental in starting the NFL player liaison program, the NFL drug program for players, and NFL coaching symposiums. On top of that, he organized a minority coaching group to meet with the NFL commissioner to discuss growth, diversity, and life--and he organized the first American sports Black Lives Matter march for the Jacksonville Jaguars organization. Coach Robiskie has long honed his leadership and teambuilding skills, both on and off the field, and mastering those skills can also prove extremely useful for probation and parole officers. He is passionate about mentoring young people in ways that build sustainable habits and at the same time promote their own leadership and ability to achieve success. Core to his approach is recognizing that people often come from challenging circumstances but can still become successful with help and support. In his presentation, he will draw on his extensive background to explain how he has taught people to work as a unit, to instill in them the passion and drive to become champions and view themselves as winners. Coach Robiskie knows that POs want to help make a difference in the lives of the juveniles and adults on their caseloads and share his thoughts about how to make that happen.