To Plant coach, it's like a new home

Players, parents and friends make over Weiner's house while he's away.

By JOE SMITH, Times Staff Writer
Published January 11, 2008

Plant football coach Robert Weiner, right, hugs quarterback Aaron Murray after seeing the makeover of his home.
	[Melissa Lyttle | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Melissa Lyttle | Times] Chimes and a Plant flag now hang from a big tree in coach Robert Weiner's front yard, which once was covered in weeds.

TAMPA - Welcome to Extreme Home Makeover: South Tampa-style.

Plant High junior quarterback Aaron Murray and the Panthers are known for their efficient two-minute offense, which often leads to late-game heroics.

On Saturday, however, the Panthers traded their pads for paint brushes to perfect a two-hour home paint job as a thank-you for one of their heroes, coach Robert Weiner.

More than three dozen players, parents and community members pitched in to surprise Weiner with a memorable makeover of his one-story home in Tampa.

When Weiner arrived home Thursday night from a one-week trip to Los Angeles for a coaches convention, he was welcomed by about 30 players, parents and friends who stood in the driveway of a place he barely recognized.

"It's like you brought me a whole new house," a stunned Weiner joked. "Incredible."

While Weiner was away, players and parents replaced weeds in his front yard with fresh sod, powerwashed his driveway and painted new black shutters.

To save money, some stores sold supplies at cost, sparking the sprucing up of Weiner's bachelor pad. The former Jesuit assistant led a once-dormant program at Plant to the 2006 Class 4A state championship and a 26-2 record the past two seasons. Parents joked that Weiner lives at the school's fieldhouse, putting household chores and renovations on a permanent back burner. Weiner admitted that he hasn't done much to the home he bought in 1994, located north of Hillsborough Avenue and east of Himes Avenue.

"When the kids were around, that was his home," said Karen Breit, mother of Panthers senior linebacker Chris Breit. "He slept in the fieldhouse. He ate at the fieldhouse. This home was just an accessory."

The players and parents dressed up the inside with personal touches. They found six black-and-white pictures that Weiner, a photography buff, took two decades ago, and they hung them in the living room. And they displayed his collection of lighthouses and placed a signed photo of Babe Ruth above his desk. (Weiner's grandfather was the former home run king's lawyer.) Chimes and a Plant flag hung from a big tree in the front yard, which once was covered in weeds and a fallen tree from a past hurricane. Two place settings with silverware were set neatly on the kitchen table.

"It's now truly a home," Weiner said. "It's not just a house."

Lauren Murray, Aaron's mother, said the idea was sparked last fall, when Weiner's mom, Carol, visited from California. Carol noticed how much time her son spent working, talking on the phone with college coaches, dedicating his life to the kids.

Carol, a 5-foot-3 resident of Los Angeles, said Weiner's weeds once "came up to my shoulders."

The players found out about the plan and joined the cleanup crew. Aaron Murray, receiver Derek Winter, defensive back Luke Martin and defensive lineman Jamar Williams were a few of the nearly 30 players who shared painting duties Saturday.

Weiner "is like another father figure," said former Plant and current LSU linebacker Zachary Midulla, in town after the Tigers' national championship victory. "When I came in, he taught me everything I needed to know about being a man.

"It's great to thank him like this."

Joe Smith can be reached at joesmith@sptimes.com or at (813) 310-9024

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 00:22:12]