The new rich football fields of Florida

Posted Dec 20, 2009 by Tom McEwen

Updated Dec 20, 2009 at 04:16 PM

Any man who has had reason to follow the career of Coach Robert Weiner will be a little surprised of his most recent coaching achievement, oh, like winning a third championship in four years for Tampa Plant High School.

Saturday night in Orlando, Plant rebuffed Manatee High’s two last-half rally efforts, which if completed could have spelled disaster for Plant.  The Panthers turned away Manatee twice in clutch drive positions to preserve and post a precious 21-14 victory. 

Consecutive titles now means this Plant team has won three of the four Florida State championships and three in a row. 

“I don’t know if there has been a better four-year run and probably three or four similar runs in the state championship,” said Coach Weiner, a proud man and coach who has sort of eased up the ladder in Florida high school coaching, and now may get some looks from other big high schools and perhaps colleges.

This is a man who has been in the business and coached from here to the northeast and the far west, according to high school coaching historian, Bill Minahan, and is now back here in Tampa.

At Plant High, Weiner’s career has been remarkable.  He was 3-7 his first year, then 9-3, then 15-0, then 11-2, 13-1, and state champs these last two years. Weiner has produced so far at Plant High players like Robert Marve at Purdue, Aaron Murray at Georgia, and has on this current team college prospects such as James Wilder, Jr., who Coach Weiner said may be the most sought after senior football player in America next year. 

Weiner also mentioned two more that he did not have too because they played so well in the championship games; Eric Dungy, son of the former Buccaneers coach, Tony, and quarterback, Philip Ely.

This is a rare assembly of talent in such numbers at Plant High. The campus will be covered next fall with talent scouts.

“This is a good bunch,” said Coach Weiner. “They played the game together, and bonded well, we have good leadership on this team in addition to good talent. This is a fine group of young men of which we are all so proud. Football should be good around here for quite awhile.”

A point which Coach Weiner has been a major contributor.  He has established himself as one of the best high school coaches in the state and needs to stay right here in what has become a good high school producing area in the triangle created by Polk County, Hillsborough County, Manatee County and the counties that shirttail off of these.  This area seems to be fast replacing Miami and south Florida as a hotbed of high school stars.

This was not always so.  But now Plant, Manatee and Polk have done so much to emerge as the premier football fields in Florida.