With A Doctorate Earned In NFL, Roberts Returns To Special Role At UW

They gave Al Roberts a dirty job, but then somebody had to do it.

You lose to Notre Dame because you can't get a punt off, you lose to Oregon because you can't make two field goals, and at the end of the season, in the Sun Bowl, you're still hiking the ball over the punter's head.

"You need one boss for special teams," said Roberts yesterday as Washington prepared to start spring football practice.

"Somebody's butt has to be tight when things go wrong, and it's going to be mine."

Al Roberts is back. Twenty years ago he coached Garfield High to a Metro League championship. Fifteen years ago he coached Jacque Robinson in the Rose Bowl.

During six seasons coaching for Don James, the Huskies were 56-15 and better at special teams than anybody else; so good, in fact, that Roberts went on to be special-teams coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Jets, and last season, the Arizona Cardinals.

But now he is back as Washington's newly conceived special teams coordinator. No longer will the job be done by committee.

"I'm thrilled to have the challenge," said Roberts, 52. "Buddy Ryan gave me the job, too, but he didn't give me players or the time I needed.

"I know for a fact that Jim Lambright will."

Roberts is thrilled about a lot of things. Mostly, it's No. 3, starting strong safety, Kyle Roberts, his son.

"My wife and I separated in 1976 and Kyle Roberts was 9 months old," said Al Roberts. "All the time he was playing Little League and in high school (at O'Dea), I never saw him play.

"There is no way I can make up for the time I've lost with him, but I can try. When he comes by the office, it is not just a handshake, it is a hug and a kiss. This is my life now."

Kyle Roberts, a junior, will start the spring with the first unit, replacing Tony Parrish, who has moved to free safety, replacing Lawyer Milloy, who opted for the NFL draft. "Kyle was a corner, so he can give us the coverage we are looking for from that position," Lambright said.

The job given to his father might be tougher. Besides trying to bring Washington back as a model of special-teams play, Roberts will also have to replace Al Lavan as the running-backs coach.

Lavan became a father figure to Napoleon Kaufman, kept Leon Neal happy through a lifetime of playing second string, and transformed Rashaan Shehee into a top college football running back.

"The kids really miss him," Roberts said. "It is my job to see that they don't miss him too much."

Roberts and Lavan switched places in the coaching world, Roberts leaving the NFL for the college game, Lavan taking a job with the new Baltimore team.

"He needed two more years to get his NFL pension," Roberts said. "The move made sense for him."

Roberts needed some stability. He was let go when Ryan was fired in Phoenix.

"I had another job, but it wasn't with what I call the Great Eight, teams like San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Buffalo, the Giants, teams that don't change. With those other teams you last two or three years, and you move again. I'd moved too many times."

Roberts knows Washington's kicking teams last season were anything but special. "The scholarship restrictions were going to show up somewhere," he said. "There's a punt returner you don't get, a good open-field tackler, a long-snapper. It adds up."

Roberts learned special teams at the knee of the master, Don James. Then he got his doctorate in the NFL. He understands how to cover and exploit the entire field.

"Some players are better in a closet; they don't visualize the entire field. They don't belong on special teams," he said.

Lambright said Roberts will get the time and the players he needs to be successful, even if it means more starters are on kick teams. "Right now," Lambright said, "Al Roberts is giving us a special-teams clinic."

Let's just hope everyone is paying attention.