Los Angeles Rams safety Eric Weddle plans to hang up his cleats in favor of the headset, serving as head football coach for Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego after this year.
The team announced the news on Facebook Saturday morning, and it was quickly picked up by national sports media, where reporters had been awaiting news on Weddle’s plans after he re-retired a Super Bowl champion with the Rams.
School athletic staff wrote that Coach Tristan McCoy will “be handing the reins to Super Bowl Champ Eric Weddle, who will take over as head of the program” at the end of the 2022 football season.
“Eric will be joining the Bronco family this season to learn the BLUE in, BLUE out culture,” the statement continues. “Coach McCoy plans to remain on staff and support Coach Weddle in the upcoming years.”
Weddle is a San Diego football legend for his contributions to the Chargers, where he was a team captain and Pro Bowl safety over the course of nine stellar seasons. He went on to play for the Baltimore Ravens until he retired in 2019, then returned to the sport to join the Rams’ successful Super Bowl run that ended this month.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
In January, Weddle spoke to KTLA sister station KSWB about his — at-times humbling — experience serving as head coach of his son’s 12and under team in Rancho Bernardo.
“When you’re trying to coach them and teach them, they look at you as, ‘Yeah, you used to play but you’re retired for a reason. You’re old and can’t do it anymore,'” he said, with a smile.
“Now, it’s very unique that they get to see me play again and now they kind of, it resonates more. I hope this experience, especially for my kids and the people that know me and their kids, they understand how much work goes into it and the time and the sacrifice.”