Robert Weiner is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He currently serves as the co-

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s coach at the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...

Early life and education

Weiner is from

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and attended Jesuit High School. He then attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, earning a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in English and secondary education. Weiner never played football; instead, he played on his high school's

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

team.

Coaching career

High school

Shortly after his graduation from Boston College, Weiner returned to his alma mater, Jesuit High School, to accept a position as an assistant coach for the football, basketball, and baseball teams. He held these positions from 1989 to 2003, when he departed Jesuit for

Crystal River High School Crystal River High School was built in Crystal River, Florida, in 1969. It was the second of the high schools located in Citrus County. The first enrollment count was 750 students. As of 2022, it is rated #3 out of 5 in Crystal River. The scho ...

Crystal River, Florida Crystal River is a city in Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,108 in the 2010 census. According to the U.S. Census estimates of 2018, the city had a population of 3,162. The city was incorporated in 1903 and is the self p ...

. He spent two seasons there before accepting the position of head football coach at

Henry B. Plant High School H.B. Plant High School is a public high school located in the neighborhood of South Tampa in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1927 between South Himes Avenue on the east and Dale Mabry Highway on the west. The school is named in honor ...

South Tampa South Tampa is a region in the city of Tampa that includes the neighborhoods of Beach Park, Ballast Point, Bayshore Beautiful, Bayshore Gardens, Bayside West, Belmar Shore, Davis Islands, Port Tampa, Fair Oaks-Manhattan Manor, Golfview, ...

. He served in this position from 2004 to 2019, with remarkable success. In the two seasons before Weiner arrived, Plant suffered through a combined 1–19 record, and the team had not recorded a winning season in the last decade. During Weiner's sixteen seasons as Plant's head coach, the team only recorded two losing seasons – his first and his last. The team went 3–7 under Weiner in his first year, but proceeded to win 14 consecutive district championships, a streak that ended after Plant went 4–6 in 2019, Weiner's last season. During Weiner's time at the helm, Plant won four FSHAA state championships (in 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011), finished as state runners-up twice, and won a total of 172 games. While coaching at Plant High School, Weiner also taught

AP English Literature and Composition Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature and Composition (also known as Senior AP English, AP Lit, APENG, or AP English IV) is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program in the United State ...

. He has stated in interviews that ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'' is among his favorite works that he studied in college. Weiner coached several notable athletes during his time at Plant, including future

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

quarterback Aaron Murray, future

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

quarterback

Robert Marve Robert Eugene Marve (born February 10, 1989) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). As a high school player, Marve was named Florida's Mr. Football and member of ...

, and future

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

quarterback Jordan McCloud. On January 22, 2013, Weiner announced that he had accepted a position as the wide receivers coach at

, however, he reversed this decision within 48 hours and ended up remaining at Plant. Ultimately, Weiner accepted a position as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Toledo on January 2, 2020. Weiner had long been linked to potential collegiate jobs; he stated that he had been offered a college coaching job in each of his final seven years at Plant, including one from Toledo that he declined.

Suspension

On October 2, 2019, Weiner received a six-week suspension for violations of the

Florida High School Athletic Association The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is an organization whose purpose is to organize sports competition for high schools in Florida. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Florida uses ...

rules regarding athletic recruiting and improper contact with a player that were self-reported by Plant High School. Specifically, Weiner violated the FHSAA's rules against coaches making living arrangements for players, since he made arrangements for a player (who was only practicing with the team and did not play in games) to live with a Plant High School parent after his elderly caretaker was no longer able to look after him. In addition to the six-week suspension, Weiner was also fined $5,000. Following the announcement of the suspension, Weiner defended his actions, saying, "I can also stand here and honestly say, without any question, that we did not violate the educational, athletic spirit and philosophy." Following an appeal, his suspension was reduced to three weeks.

College

Weiner's first season at Toledo was in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

. He was rated No. 2 in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

for class of 2022 recruiting by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

. In 2022, Weiner coached Maxwell Award finalist, Dequan Finn to Toledo's first MAC West Championship since 2017.

Personal life

Weiner and his longtime girlfriend, Tonya Thomas, maintain houses in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiner, Robert Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Toledo Rockets football coaches Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni Jesuit High School (Tampa) alumni Sportspeople from Tampa, Florida 21st-century American sportsmen Schoolteachers from Florida