Joe Gibbs hilariously recalls getting outmaneuvered bringing John Riggins back to Washington

Joe Gibbs looked back at when John Riggins outmaneuvered him when the legendary Washington coach tried to get him back on the team. While speaking to Kevin Harvick on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Gibbs talked about his meeting with Riggins after Washington hired him to be the head coach.

“He was a real character,” Joe Gibbs, who is also the owner and founder of Joe Gibbs Racing, said about John Riggins. “He had sat out the year before when I got there in a contract dispute. I just got a plane when I got he job and flew to Lawrence, Kansas. Knocked on the door, and right away I knew I had a chance to get him to come back because Mary Lou, his wife, was there, hair up in rollers and kids running through the house. She said she wanted to come back.

“…I went out the next day, started the sales pitch. I still remember it. He was giving me nothing. He sat at breakfast across from me, and I’m sales pitching, ‘Young coach, John, new offense, put you in the backfield. I’ll give you the ball on every down. I’ll never ask you to block.’ I’m a salesman, you don’t expect me to tell the truth, do you?”

John Riggins made Joe Gibbs ‘famous’

Gibbs continued, “So I’m going as hard (as I can), nothing. About halfway through that conversation, he leaned across the table and he goes, ‘You need to get me back there. I’ll make you famous.’ I went, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s an egomaniac.’ I said, ‘It’s a nutcase. I’m going to get stuck coaching a fruitcake.’ So I’m thinking to myself, ‘How do I get out of this?’ I went, ‘Trade him.’ So I just finished the sales pitch, I go back to Washington. I get a phone call two days later, it’s from John. He goes, ‘Coach, I’m going to play. I’m coming back.’ I went, ‘Yeah. Get him back, trade him for a (first-round pick), this is awesome.’

“He goes, ‘There’s only one thing I want put in my contract.’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘A no-trade clause.’ Now, the moral of that story is John Riggins made me famous.”

Gibbs was smart not to trade Riggins, as he helped Washington win the Super Bowl during the 1982 season. Riggins was named Super Bowl MVP after the game, as he rushed for 166 yards and one touchdown.

Riggins then went on to rush for 1,347 yards in 1983 and was named to the All-Pro First Team. He finished his NFL career with 11,352 yards and 104 touchdowns. Riggins was named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.