Terry Robiskie served as interim head coach of the Washington Redskins in 2000 after owner Daniel Snyder fired Norv Turner, and he recently shared an account from that period that has drawn attention online.

Robiskie recalled receiving a message from the team’s owner telling him not to let fullback Larry Centers earn a contract incentive, but he ignored it and made sure the bonus was secured. Robiskie did not name the owner in his account, though Daniel Snyder was Washington’s majority owner at the time and has been identified in subsequent coverage as the person he was referring to.

Robiskie remembered the incentive as being worth $300,000, though contemporary reporting from 2000 described it as a $250,000 bonus for Centers reaching 80 receptions. His account of the incident drew strong reactions from fans online.

Terry Robiskie Says He Ignored NFL Owner’s Note and Called Plays Deliberately to Secure Larry Centers’ Bonus

Robiskie served as interim head coach for the final three games of Washington’s 2000 season after Snyder dismissed Norv Turner 13 games in. The incident took place during the season finale against the Arizona Cardinals, which was Centers’ former team.

During a segment on“The Family Business Podcast with Norv and Steph”, Robiskie explained how Centers had been a very important piece of the offense under Turner’s system. He then described Centers coming to his office before the Arizona game to make a request.

“I’ll never forget it. We were playing Arizona, which was Larry’s old team. Larry came to my office, sat down at my desk, and said, ‘Coach, you know, I didn’t make that much money this year on my salary. But I need six catches in this game,'” Robiskie said. Contemporary records differ from Robiskie’s recollection on the details. Centers entered the game with 73 receptions and needed seven to reach the reported 80-catch incentive threshold. A later Elias scoring change credited him with an eighth reception in the game, giving him 81 for the season. Robiskie recalled his own reaction when Centers disclosed the size of the incentive attached to those six catches.

“And Norv would always get him seven, nine catches. He said, ‘I need six catches in this game. If I get those six catches, man, I got a $300,000 bonus.’ And I turned and looked at him. I said, ‘Three hundred? Are you crazy? I don’t make but $140,000. I’m the head coach!'” he said.

The conversation took a lighter turn before Robiskie got to the owner’s note.

“He said, ‘Coach, man, I gotta get these six catches for this $300,000, man. I’ll give you a thousand.’ I said, ‘Okay, good. Give me a thousand!’ But right then, that guy wanted to know, ‘Coach, do you really care about me?’ And I know that I got a little note from the owner of that team saying, ‘Don’t let that guy get them six catches,'” Robiskie recalled.

He made clear what he did with that note: “I threw him seven balls in the first quarter. I made sure he got them. I never got my thousand dollars from him. I gotta get my thousand! But I made sure he had his incentive. And I told the owner, ‘If you don’t want him to make that incentive, don’t put it in his contract, because I’m the wrong guy.'”

Fans online reacted strongly to Robiskie’s allegation that an NFL owner attempted to influence how a player was used in order to avoid triggering a contract incentive. Sports betting content creator Tony Farmer framed the story in the broader context of NFL ownership and gambling.

“This is huge! We now have ON RECORD a former NFL head coach saying an owner asked him to manipulate play calls on Sunday to benefit the owner financially ($300k). A kickback was discussed. This is why Robert Kraft owning a sports betting app (with Adam Schefter) is problematic. It’s insane that this is allowed to happen in a league that severely punishes players who sniff sports betting,” Farmer wrote.

Kraft and Schefter were both reported as investors in Boom Entertainment, a gaming company that developed prediction games and planned real-money casino and sports-betting products.

More responses followed quickly, with several suggesting the issue went well beyond a single owner and a single incident.

“It’s the entire thing. If you think it’s a select few people having ties with a select few apps, you’re borderline blind. The entire [expletive] thing is rigged,” one fan said.

“This has been going on forever. This is why many free agents sign with teams that purposely help players in week 18 hit bonuses. Meh,” wrote one user.

“Professional sports is all about $. Owners own the teams to make $. They don’t care about wins or losses. They care about getting most people to watch the games, most money from stadium seat sales, most advertisements, most branded sales etc,” commented another fan.

One user called for more voices inside the league to come forward.

“Can we start cracking down on this or better yet, can we have more players and coaches speak more on it, the nfl will try to hide it but if more players did it would have to get looked into,” said another user.

“This is [expletive] INSANEEE!!!! Something tells me so much more is going to be exposed. Greed greed greed,” wrote one fan.

Notably, Centers was a three-time Pro Bowler, a First-Team All-Pro in 1996, and a Super Bowl 38 champion with the New England Patriots. He finished his career with 827 receptions, the NFL record for a fullback.

Daniel Snyder sold the Washington franchise in 2023 following years of league investigations and public controversy surrounding his ownership.