- November 16, 2024
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In the wake of Robert Nocella’s resignation, Matanzas soccer coach Rich Weber has been hired to take over the responsibilities of the school’s athletic director.
I’ve been interested in the position for a while,” Weber said. “I work in the business world as a consultant and program manager with a huge background in youth sports and building out programs. My heart has always loved and followed sports, as an athlete and coach, so I decided to throw my name in the hat, and I was very impressed with Dr. (Earl) Johnson, and I think he’s going to very supportive of the athletics.”
Weber has built a number of sports programs from scratch, including the PDA Soccer Club, which has grown from five teams to over 22 competitive teams, over 1,000 players.
While he will be overseeing the dozens of sports programs at Matanzas, Weber still plans to coach soccer, another program he has built into a contender.
“I’m already so invested and committed to the kids, so I don’t want any perceptions that I step away and not give my best to that program,” he said. “Beyond next year, to be fair, if it becomes best, overall, for the athletics department to not coach, then I will definitely look to get the right fit to make sure the program carries on.”
His official start date, on the job, will be Monday, July 27, and, before he makes any projections or goals, Weber plans to meet with all of the coaches over the coming weeks.
“My expertise from the professional and Army side is to come in and assess things,” Weber said. “I’m use to building action plans and helping to move them forward.”
“I’m really exciting about capturing some of the synergy that I saw when we first got Pirate Nation going,” he added. “It got really exciting. I’m looking forward to catapulting student ownership and the spirit and pride of Matanzas, and getting them to support each other and standing up like never before. There is is a lot of good kids and good coaches, and they’re ready to burst at the seams for this, so I think there will be a different feel at events, and I have a few ideas on how to get that going in a great direction.”
