When he thought about it, Bill Webb couldn’t point to many coaches at the University of Tennessee who got to dictate the terms of their departure.
He became one on Monday, announcing his retirement as head men’s track and field coach.
“It’s time,’’ he said. “I just turned 60, I’ve got my health, my boat and my car.
“I’ve had this planned for a couple of months.’’
Webb will coach the Vols in the NCAA regional and national championship meet, then consider what direction to take.
His wife Patricia also is retiring from her job. Their son Kevin lives in San Diego.
Distance coach George Watts takes over as interim head coach while UT conducts a search.
“I strongly recommend George for the job,’’ Webb said.
Watts, a former UT distance runner, has been with the program 24 years, the past 14 as distance coach.
In the 14 seasons at UT since Webb took over for Doug Brown, the Vols have consistently remained in the elite realm of college track and field.
The Vols won the 2001 outdoor national championship and followed with an indoor title in 2002.
On Webb’s watch, Tennessee is the only school to unseat Arkansas at both the SEC indoor and outdoor championships.
Webb came to UT in 1986 from Cal State-Northridge as assistant head coach under Brown. He has a national reputation in coaching field events, particularly decathletes and javelin throwers.
Nobody was better in the decathlon than UT. Webb is the only coach to have three decathletes score in the same NCAA meet, which happened in 1991 and 1992.
He is the only coach to develop a world champion decathlete (Tom Pappas) and an NCAA champion (Stephen Harris) in the same year, 2003.
He is especially fond of the 1992 team that had four decathletes who scored 7,912 points or higher and all were Americans.
But one of the things of which Webb is most proud is striving to field a balanced team that was competitive in all 21 events. Thus, he took great satisfaction in UT winning 10 dual-meet titles in his 14 years as head coach.
“It’s been a fabulous joy,’’ he said of his tenure at UT.
“But if you stay 23 years in anything you’re going to bump heads with people. The grind gets to you.
“I just need to recharge my batteries and look at what options are out there.
“I might never coach again or I might coach club athletes. I’ll look at some things but I’m not looking for another job right now.’’
Perhaps the only downside to the timing of his departure is UT’s eighth-place finish in the recent SEC outdoor meet.
“That’s not our typical year of fighting for everything,’’ he said.
“But recruiting is on the upswing and this was a fairly young team.’’
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 16
BillVol writes:
Thanks for a job well done. Two national titles, Olympic medalists, SEC titles. On to a new coach, who will hopefully revive the cross country program.
VOLinAthensGA writes:
Sorry to see ya go! Wish you the best and thanks for being a Vol!
golfballs03 writes:
One heck of a run (no pun intended).
BigOrangeVol29 writes:
Thank you for your tireless service to the University and its students, faculty, and fans. Best wishes in all your future endeavors.
BigOrangeVol writes:
Wow, what a legacy between Coach Webb, Coach Brown, Coach Huntsman and Coach Rohe! Big thanks to Bill, Doug, Stan and Chuck for all they did for our University!!!
I never ran or cared about Middle or Distance but just thinking of the Burners we've had in the last 35 years is staggering (in no particular order):
Sam Graddy; Leonard Scott; Reggie Jones; Terry McDaniel; Rubin Williams; Gary Kikaya; Aries Merritt; David Patrick; Sean Lambert; Jeff Powell; Jeff Phillips; Mike Miller; Matt Shelton; Darwin Bond; Willie Gault; Rooster Hancock; Reggie Towns; Jerome Wilson; Justin Gatlin; Russell Frye; Jabari Greer; Dwayne Bell; Jonathan Wade; Evander Wells; Pat Pomphrey...WOW, those guys could flat-out smoke a field!!!
BillVol writes:
Good list, BOV, but you left out Richmond Flowers. Loved the mention of Frye, 200M specialist, though. Had forgotten about him.
snafu14u#241639 writes:
Thanks for the list. Worked with the track team during the mid 70's. Knew and went to class with alot of those guys. UT's been blessed with some quailty individuals as track coaches. bonzaivol
GreerVol22 writes:
Happy Retirement Coach! I'm reminded of the scene in Forrest Gump where he just stops running, not that your a Gump coach, just that your the one saying your done.
... just waiting on some back-handed compliment from Adams now...
give_him_6 writes:
Good luck coach and thanks for all that you have done for the team.
NoChildLeftaDime writes:
Good Luck Coach and let's promote George Watt and keep the winning tradition!
BigOrangeVol writes:
See this is what happens when you get old! I knew I'd forget someone important. For a kid that stared out life as flat-footed, dyslexic, asthmatic and anemic, Richmond sure made up for it. Here are his props that should make up for my slight.
He set the National record in high school for high-hurdles and tied the National record in low-hurdles. In the 1964 Alabama State Track Championships, he finished first in five events with five state records.
At UT, he was a four-time track and field All-American, an NCAA High Hurdle Champion and NCAA record holder in two events. He was also an All-American on the football team holding the UT record with 105 receptions for 1,215 yards in 3 years.
Aside from being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he was the number one hurdler in the world and was favored to win the gold at the '68 Olympics in Mexico. That year, he was just .10 second off the world 60 yard high hurdle record, becoming Tennessee's first NCAA Track Champion. Flowers defeated the world record holder, Earl McCullough, and finished first seven times in eight major meets. He also defeated Willie Davenport, the eventual 1968 Olympic Gold medalist, on Davenport's own home track, and then repeated the defeat the following day on Flowers' home track. Named the number one high hurdler in the world, Flowers' dream of winning the Olympic title ended on June 2, 1968, with a season ending hamstring injury. Davenport went on to win the gold medal but Richmond went on to play in the NFL for seven years.
He was a Super Bowl Champion with the Cowboys.
How 'bout them apples?
BigOrangeVol writes:
Obviously not because you're still here.
trgclychip writes:
Bring back the distance runners!!!!
Volunatic writes:
You did a great job here, Coach!
tenn32rebel writes:
Let's not forget Pat.
She has more NCAA championships than all the others combined.
Also, the only coach, male or female, to win 1000 games.
Yes, Lady Vols are also Vols.
"rebel"
tenn32rebel writes:
MagicMan, you are right about Hamilton. Maybe he is a mole for UA / Coach Saban?? Check that out, okay?
"rebel"
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