ELF: Rhein Fire Sign Andrew Weidinger as Offensive Coordinator

Andrew Weidinger, who was recently named Coach of the Year in the European League of Football, has agreed to join the Rhein Fire as their new offensive coordinator.

After serving in coaching roles with the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL and with the Arizona Hotshots of the short-lived Alliance of American Football, Weidinger moved over to Europe in 2021, where he became the offensive coordinator for the Potsdam Royals of the German Football League.  After one season with the Royals, he was named head coach of the Barcelona Dragons for their second year in the upstart European League of Football.

Weidinger took over as head coach of the Dragons following their inaugural 2021 season, in which they went 3-7 and missed the playoffs.  In his only year with the team, the 2022 season, the Dragons saw major improvement, finishing 8-4 and winning the regular season Southern Conference title.  In the playoffs, they fell in the semifinals by a score of 39-12 to the Vienna Vikings, who would go on to win the league championship.

Last year, the Dragons offense finished fourth in the league in total points scored with 364 over 12 games, for an average of just over 30 points per game.  Under Weidinger’s coaching, quarterback Zach Edwards had a huge year, leading the league in passing yards with 3,325.  Additionally, receiver Kyle Sweet broke league records in receiving yards and touchdowns, finishing with 1,561 and 17, respectively, on his way to being named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year.  

However, after such a successful season, Weidinger and the Dragons parted ways, and Barcelona hired Mexican-born and Spanish-speaking coach Gabriel Sanchez as his replacement.  There was never a doubt, though, that Weidinger would quickly land on his feet somewhere else, and that suspicion was confirmed on Tuesday when he joined the Rhein Fire.

Weidinger joins a Rhein team that narrowly missed out on the playoffs in their debut season, finishing 7-5, one game back of the Dragons in the Southern Conference.  The Fire were led by head coach Jim Tomsula, former head coach of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, and it has been announced that he will be coming back for a second year.  The Fire finished in the middle of the pack last year in scoring offense, coming in 6th place with 346.  With Weidinger leading the offense, the team is hoping to take a big step forward in their second season and make the playoffs for the first time in 2023.