LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)- Most coaches have one staple mantra. Tony Robichaux wasn’t like many coaches. He was a man of many mantras.

Because he had many lessons to teach. the kind of lessons that didn’t fade as the Russo Parks lights dimmed after a Ragin’ Cajun baseball game.

They were called “Robeisms”, curated more for the person than the player.

Over 1,000 wins as a coach, Seven Sun Belt Conference regular season titles, four Sun Belt tournament titles. He guided Louisiana to the 2000 college World Series, as well as 12 NCAA regionals and four Super Regionals.
But the robeisms, over the record books, will carry his legacy on for generations through his players.

“Coaching kids, you have to say something real quick, you hope that they can get it and keep it and remember it, hoping it sticks with them,” Robichaux said.

Robeisms. It’s not a word you’ll find in the dictionary. But you could find it at almost every Tony Robichaux press conference.

“You can’t sharpen a knife with a Kleenex,” Robichaux said. “You’re going to have to get in there. You can’t push no car up hill with a rope. But it can be pulled uphill.”

Here are more:

“We have to keep looking at this as an opportunity versus pressure. I think everybody has to deal with something and it’s having the ability to handle it.

This time of the year become everybody fights it. So now what’s left is you know the will of the dog. If you don’t want me to come get the ball from you, then pitch. I’ve never gone and got the ball from somebody that’s pitching. And that’s a warrior. Why would I come get the ball from you? If you don’t want me to come get the ball from you, be a warrior.”

There’s two kind of athletes. One gets in the arena because of the attention that it brings him. One gets in the arena because he wants to compete.”

” The lion is the king of the jungle, but yet it’s not the biggest animal in the jungle. He’s not the heaviest. He’s not the tallest. But, it’s what he thinks. He thinks he’s the king of the jungle. When he walks up to the watering hole, they run. A herd of sheep led by a lion has a lot better chance to win than a whole herd of lions led by a sheep. We talk about it all the time with our players.”

No Q&S guys. Those are the guys that quit and stay. You see that in the corporate world right? Somebody’s quit, but they stay. That’s the worst thing you can have. Baseball in our state is very good. I’ve always said that. You don’t need to go too far to get your rear end handed to you. They don’t send a pilot up the first day he goes to pilot school and lets him solo a plane. He’s gonna start in the simulator, fly with an instructor, until they finally feel like he’s good enough to leave on his own.”

In an interview with KLFY just two weeks before his passing, Coach shared a Robeism all too fitting for his legacy.

“In the Bible it doesn’t say that you’ve got to be a baseball player, but it’s clear what kind of man you need to become. You talked to pastors who have pastored men over to the other side, and the three questions that always come up are was I a good enough husband? Was I a good enough father? Was a good enough man? So let’s just drag those to the front. Let’s teach him that. I think that will probably prepare him more than baseball will.”

“Tragedy brings us all together. That’s the good thing that’ll come out of it,” said friend Craig Melancon. “We spent last night with a group of friends. We cried, cheered, told jokes, told stories. Tony wouldn’t want us to be sad right now. He’s in a better place.”