College Feature
Weiss Embraces Long-Awaited Opportunity at Clemson
by Rhiannon Potkey, 11 July 2019
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Robbie Weiss just about gave up hope for ever coaching college tennis again.
Weiss had left the profession in 2008 for family reasons and spent eight years working in the business world in Atlanta. But the passion still burned inside Weiss. The former NCAA singles champion still craved the competition and making an impact on players’ lives.
Robbie Weiss
Once his situation stabilized at home in 2016, Weiss felt the time was right to try and get back into coaching. He started putting out some feelers.
“It was not an easy task. I didn’t get a lot of responses from coaches,” Weiss said. “No one really was interested in talking to me and I had a lot of doors shutting in my face. I never really knew if I would get the opportunity again.”
Weiss decided to cold call Alabama men’s coach George Husack. Weiss’ wife, Linda, was an Alabama graduate, and the family had become huge Crimson Tide football fans.
Husack’s assistant, Ryler DeHeart, had just left for another job, and he was intrigued by what Weiss had to offer. After a few discussions, Husack added Weiss to Alabama’s staff.
“I hired Robbie based on what his thoughts were of my current team at the time, what his plan was to make an impact to our program and ultimately his zest for coaching and developing student-athletes stood out during our initial conversations,” Husack said. “He did his homework and it was very clear to me that he wanted to make an impact. He didn’t want to ‘try’ the profession or get his feet wet. He wanted to live it. He dove into the deep end.”
Weiss’ impact at Alabama caught the attention of Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich. He hired Weiss last month to become the 10th head coach in program history.
“It was really almost surreal to be quite honest. It’s been a really long process for me,” Weiss said. “Just to be in the conversation for the Clemson job is something I was really proud of because there were a lot of great candidates. When I got word I got the position, it was really true elation.”
