Two days after a tearful goodbye at Plant High, head coach Robert Weiner has had a change of heart.
On Tuesday afternoon, while sitting outside his fieldhouse, the same one where a standing room only crowd gathered to hear his resignation speech Sunday evening, Weiner said he's never been happier.
He feels bad about having to spurn USF's new head coach Willie Taggert after accepting a position to be his wide receivers coach. But after a couple of sleepness nights and a lot of contemplation, Weiner decided his home was at Plant.
"I had to empty my heart to find out what was inside it," Weiner said.
His heart is at Plant, where his principal Robert Nelson said in a statement that he is "extremely excited on his return to the school."
Weiner will meet with his players after school and then address the media to talk about his decision. BHSN carried the press conference live.
He opened with a quote from his favorite book "The Prince of Tides."
The last line reads, "I am a teacher, a coach, and a well-loved man. And it is more than enough"
Weiner went on to explain how important it is to find your niche in life and he found his at Plant. He was extremely grateful for USF Coach Willie Taggart and the opportunity to coach at the next level. But ultimately he decided while for most high school coaches, being able to coach in college would be a dream job, his dream job is at Plant.
Earlier Tuesday morning, Taggart announced that Weiner has decided to remain the head coach at Plant High School.
Taggart released this statement Tuesday:
“Coach Weiner is a great coach and a man who will continue to do great things at Plant. We knew pulling him away from the young men in the Plant program would be very difficult for him, and we wish him continued tremendous success moving forward.”
Weiner became the Panthers head coach in 2004 and in nine seasons, he led the program to four state championships and five state championship game appearances. The team currently holds a Hillsborough County-best streak of eight-straight district titles.
In that span, Weiner compiled a 102-19 record. He took over a Panthers program that was 1-9 in 2003. He had one losing season, his first, and then began a run of eight-straight district championships.
Prior to Plant, Weiner served as a long-time assistant coach at Jesuit under current Berkeley head coach Dominick Ciao.