The NFL’s loss is Antioch High’s gain. Brentwood resident and longtime San Francisco 49er center Jeremy Newberry, who recently announced his retirement from pro football, is returning to his alma mater as the offensive line coach for the Panther football team this season.

Panther Head Coach Randy Autentico welcomed Newberry’s offer to help the team, one of whose players at the guard spot is Jerred Newberry, nephew of Jeremy. “When he found out he wasn’t going to (the Atlanta Falcons) camp, he said, ‘Do you guys need some help?’” said Autentico. “We will gladly take somebody who has 12 years of NFL experience. He will help us. He’s brought a real tough attitude to our team. That’s something you can always use is the toughness and the real physical approach to football.”

Newberry actually spent 11 years in the NFL, the first nine of them with the 49ers before playing a year with the Oakland Raiders and last year with the San Diego Chargers. He signed in June to play with the Atlanta Falcons, but decided to call it quits two weeks ago after aggravating a knee injury that had forced him to miss the 2006 season.

“I can probably make myself play another year, but probably at the expense of my not walking very well again,” said Newberry in a phone interview Sunday. “I love football, but I have two little girls that want their dad to be active with them.”

Newberry, 33, was asked whether it’s tough for him to miss his first NFL camp in 12 years – and actually 20 straight years of summer football camps going back to when he starred at Antioch High.

“I guess a part of me thinks about it somewhat,” he said. “But I have a 3- and a 5-year-old who don’t give me a whole lot of chance to sit around and feel bad about not playing. I’m a peace with it. There’s a calm, since it’s walking away from the game when I knew it was time and a team was courting me. I always wanted to walk away on my own terms. I knew my knees were going to be able to handle another season of football. But leaving with a smile on my face, with the relationships and friends I have had, I can’t complain one bit.”

Newberry said Jerred had asked him if he knew anyone interested in assisting the team. “When I decided to retire, I knew I would do down and help them out,” he said. “It’s going to be fun. It will be challenging but fun, especially to be close to football. I am really looking forward to it.”

Having coached at three or four practices so far, he discussed the toughness and physicality that he hopes to instill in the offensive line. “I prided myself on being a physical lineman. I have probably been borderline on unnecessary roughness, hitting people downfield. They have some tough kids and players capable of going on to the next level. I’m trying to help these kids out and bring what I was about when I played. They respond really well. They are a hard-working group of kids.”

The Antioch football program has fallen on hard times in recent years, posting only one winning season in the past five years. Newberry, who earned first-team All-Bay Valley Athletic League, All-East Bay, All-Bay Area, All-NorCal and All-Far West honors as a Panther in the early ’90s, hopes to help turn that around.

“We really had good teams,” he said. “It was disappointing that they slipped to the level they did – Antioch wasn’t a very good team any more. And it was once a proud program. Myself and the other people who played there need to give back and make it a great program again.”

The team has four assistant coaches and really needs seven or eight to give the players the training they need, he said. So he’s been contacting some of his old teammates to see if they can help out.

Although it’s too early to make an accurate assessment of the Panthers’ chances in the upcoming season, he said, “I think we will have a very good (offensive) line. The quarterback (Jordan Hoyle) has a good touch and they have a running back who can run the ball. We have a chance to have a real physical running team.”

Newberry hopes to not only inspire the players on the field but off as well in “just being a great student athlete. A lot of these kids don’t have grades. I always had a good GPA. That’s something I really prided myself on. There’s life after football – I am just now experiencing that. If I find out they are messing up in school I will be definitely on these kids.”

Newberry, who was an all-pro center with the 49ers, will also be busy in “retirement” managing his All Pro Limousine business, which is based in Brentwood. It’s doing quite well, providing Hummers and stretch limos for special occasions, despite the down economy, he said. To rent a limo, call 925-516-3300, e-mail allprolimousine@gmail.com or go online to www.allpro-limo.com.