New Toledo quarterbacks coach Robert Weiner does not always read James Joyce, but when he does, he prefers Ulysses.
That is, unless the longtime high school English teacher is feeling dangerous.
“Back in college, we studied Ulysses and even our smartest professor told us, ‘Don’t even try Finnegans Wake. You’re not going to get it,’” Weiner said, referring to the stream-of-consciousness work that makes a hieroglyphic translation of a Russian instruction manual seem like a walk in the park. “So, of course, as rebellious college students, we looked into it.”
I have to say, I like the guy already.
And have we mentioned Weiner is also a football legend?
The 55-year-old Florida prep coach is the most interesting Toledo hire I can remember since at least Monday, when Jason Candle appointed the heir of the Mount Union dynasty (Vince Kehres) to his defensive staff.
But before that, you’d have to go back a ways.
Here is a former high school tennis player who never played football himself and turned his love of poetry and literature into a fulfilling career as an AP English teacher. He also built a prep football monster.
After Weiner became the head coach at Tampa Plant in 2004, he turned a dormant program that went 1-19 the previous two seasons into a winner by his second year and an unbeaten big-school state champion by his third. He won 172 games and four state titles in 16 seasons.
Last year, the Tampa Bay Times ranked the top 50 coaches in Tampa Bay history. Weiner was fifth, in between the Stanley Cup-winning John Tortorella and the Super Bowl-winning Jon Gruden.
A few years earlier, then-Texas Tech coach Mike Leach gathered him and Charlie Weis, declaring, “We need to have a dinner of the three best coaches who never played the game themselves.”
It is hard to overstate Weiner’s stature in Florida.
So why leave for Toledo? And why now?
“That’s a really interesting question,” he said.
Weiner starts from the beginning.
As you might suspect, football was not his first love. It was the English language, an appreciation passed down by his late father, Roland, who also spoke German, which he learned in the Army to serve as a translator in post-war interrogations.
Weiner majored in English at Boston College, then returned home to teach at his alma mater, Tampa Jesuit High. He remained in the classroom through his time at Plant and loved every day of it.
Among his favorite works for discussion: Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner, and anything by T.S. Eliot.
“What I love about his poetry is that it isn’t easy to decipher and take apart, but it’s accessible enough to do it,” Weiner said. “It just takes some work. I’ve also become a huge Maya Angelou fan. Every single year, when I’m beginning to teach students about how to utilize language and the power of words, I always start with her poem from Bill Clinton’s inauguration, ‘On the Pulse of Morning.’”
He could have stayed in that element forever.
But as he discovered, his passion and flair for teaching translated well to another venue, too.
Upon returning to Jesuit after college, Weiner was pulled aside by “Wild Bill” Minahan, the school’s athletic director and legendary former football coach.
“Robert, do you want to be a cross country coach?” Minahan asked, expecting all hands on deck from the young teachers. “Or do you want to be a football coach with Dominick.”
Weiner wasn’t sure.
“Well, I need an answer right now!”
Football it was. Basketball and baseball, too. He became an assistant coach in all three sports, though he found his calling on Friday nights.
He worked alongside Dominick Ciao for 15 seasons, then got his first top job in 2003 when he was hired by nearby Crystal River to lead its ... baseball team.
Weiner got his football break the next year.
“And the rest is history,” he said.
Like teacher like coach, Weiner proved a natural. He poured himself into the X’s and O’s, sure, but mostly he poured himself into the people, proving nice guys really could finish first.
Philip Ely, a Plant grad who played in college at Alabama and Toledo, said Weiner is like family to him. The coach even officiated his wedding, but not before addressing the gathering of family and friends as if they were players in a locker room.
“He gave the most fiery speech, and it wasn’t to let everyone know how good my wife and I were,” Ely said. “It was to point out what an amazing group that had been brought together. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. He’s truly passionate about who we are.”
Over the years, Weiner had many opportunities to leave Plant for college jobs, including at Toledo, where he knew Candle well.
“I was playing with house money, where I could tell myself that if I got the exact offer at the exact place with the exact people I wanted to be with, that would be something I’d jump at,” Weiner said. “If I didn’t, I’d never have to scratch that itch and it wouldn’t bother me.”
Finally, this year, the chips aligned, and, after a tearful goodbye, a man who is no stranger to a good challenge — whether it be deciphering Joyce or deconstructing an opposing defense — made the leap.
Weiner could hardly be more excited.
How is he sure?
Seven years ago, he left Plant to become the receivers coach at South Florida, the Division I university right there in his sun-splashed hometown. He lasted one day before a change of heart brought him back to Plant.
This time feels different.
And not just because it’s Toledo in January.
“I’ve already passed that test,” Weiner said by phone from Tampa, where he returned for a memorial service for his dear father, who passed on Dec. 17. “I’ve been at Toledo for 10 days. I’m in Tampa now and I don’t feel any yearning other than to go back and be great for the Toledo Rockets.”
First Published January 16, 2020, 4:48 p.m.
