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The couple is moving to Virginia from Ridgewood, where they both worked.
By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Joe and Diane Breinig are headed for Virginia, which means Ridgewood will need some new coaches.
A new volleyball coach, and a new boys track and assistant basketball coach, to be precise.
"We're headed back to northern Virginia, where I grew up," said Joe Breinig, 30.
Joe Breinig teaches health at Ridgewood and Diane teaches home economics. The couple arrived and took on coaching positions in the 2000-01 school year. Their resignations will be effective at the end of this school year.
When he started, Breinig was a Marine Corps sergeant leaving the service to teach, and he faced the difficult task of taking over as track coach for Glenn Cable, who led the Rams' decorated program to four consecutive Sunshine Athletic Conference titles and a regional runner-up title.
Diane Breinig took over the volleyball program from Marlyn Bavetta, another Ridgewood legend who retired from coaching after 26 years of coaching at the middle and high school level.
The Breinigs purchased 10 acres in Leesburg, Va., and have applied for positions with the Loudoun County school district. A new high school, Dominion, is opening in the fall and Breinig has applied for to teach there and coach boys basketball and boys track.
Diane Breinig, 29, said she is considering returning to school, perhaps a graduate assistant position, and is considering moving into administration.
The school system there offers more opportunity and more money, both said. But it won't be an easy move. Diane Breinig is from Pasco County and graduated from Land O'Lakes in 1992.
"It's going to be different," she said. "This is where I grew up. I'm leaving my family and everything I grew up with, but it's a good thing and we need to move on. There's better money in Virginia, and hopefully better opportunities for both of us to advance our careers."
That's why it was too good a move to pass up, Joe Breinig said.
"At the end of the year it was tough for us because my wife, her family is from here," Joe Breinig said. "It was a tough decision, but it's a 30 to 40 percent raise between the both of us, and they pay for your master's (degree) 100 percent.
"Eventually I would really like to become an athletic director, and up there they don't teach or coach, they're just administrators."