Great article today. Webb was sure one of the greatest coaches, maybe the greatest coach we have ever had. And I would like to apologize if I was one of those fans mentioned in this article. After Webb got chased away we ended up with Tom Young.
https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist...8a4b2.html
I would argue that he's our greatest coach and what a class guy. His teams pulled off wins that "shocked the world". I went up to him and introduced myself at a Big Blue BBQ a couple years ago and thanked him for the great years he gave us all as coach. When I mentioned that I thought he was the winningest college BB coach in Virginia history (which he is), his reply was that he probably has the most losses too. He made me feel like we had known each other our entire lives.
Going to his team camps was a highlight of every summer from JV to Varsity. Good memories and some great coaching.
Ya, I remember going to his camps as a kid. I don't remember him per say, I was pretty young, but I remember that he did get up in talk to the entire camp and such.
During my freshman year, Webb would go around to the dorms early in the season to promote ODU basketball. They would show a video highlighting the program's accomplishments, and you could meet the coach. I spoke with him briefly at one of those events. He's always been happy to meet the fans.
Let us also remember he coached during a time when the Lady Monarchs were one of the dominant teams in the country and they were likely more well known than the men. I remember watching a college basketball game on TV when it was announced that ODU had upset Syracuse. Al McGuire, the famed former Marquette coach who was then commentating on the game that was on TV, after hearing about the upset, promptly said, "Well I guess their (ODU's) men can play some ball too."
Coach Webb is the epitome of a Southern Gentleman. My father was the ultimate sports junkie. Being a Navy lifer originally from a Philly suburb he always had to have a local team(s). He became an ODU (ODC) super fan within the first basketball season
after our being transferred here. His "job" in the Navy was running McCormick Sports Center events (on the old D&S piers) at NOB. Thru intramural basketball he met Dick St Clair and some other military players that would go on to ODC. He was a founding member of the old Monarch Club and (I think) of the Big Blue Club. He got to ride on the team plane going to play for national championship.
He was diagnosed at only 57 with metastatic colon cancer in May of 1977. When the team returned to practice later that summer, September, I believe, Coach Webb brought the team to see him at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. That kind gesture by the Coach and the team was all my father talked about until he died 2.5 months later. Coach Webb, a terrific coach and an even better man.
Paul Webb is an Old Dominion and Commonwealth of Virginia treasure! We were fortunate, yes lucky, to have him as our coach. He simply outworked many in his profession when it came to recruiting and he was a motivator once he recruited the players. Thanks, Coach, and best wishes for many more happy and healthy years for you.
Loved Paul Webb! I took his camp every year when I was a youngster, always learned a lot and had great respect for him.
He was the golf/basketball coach at Randolph Macon when my dad went there and my dad was on the golf team and said he was one of the nicest, most genuine people he's ever met. I suppose that's why he sent me to the camp every year.
Also a true story I went to Jones's camp at uva one year. Met courtney Alexander which was pretty awe inspiring.
(02-25-2018 12:07 AM)Razor Ramon Monarch Wrote: [ -> ]Loved Paul Webb! I took his camp every year when I was a youngster, always learned a lot and had great respect for him.
He was the golf/basketball coach at Randolph Macon when my dad went there and my dad was on the golf team and said he was one of the nicest, most genuine people he's ever met. I suppose that's why he sent me to the camp every year.
Also a true story I went to Jones's camp at uva one year. Met courtney Alexander which was pretty awe inspiring.
Holy crap, we may have been at camp together. I still have the picture with JJ from when I was a kid. I pull it out occasionally and just laugh at the irony.
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I agree a good case could be made he was the best coach in ODU/ODC history. I would go with Sonny Allen but not sure I could win it on a point by point bases plus, of course, part of what Sonny did was in D-2. I have talked with a few folks who do confirm it was the fan complaints (including the big $$$ folks) that chased Webb out and that was a surprise. I cannot imagine what is like today with all the media platforms we now have.
Yep ETSU, people back then were upset we didn't win the Sunbelt. I remember folks writing letters to the newspaper editor complaining about Webb. Sure seems similar to now. That man was a really good coach, didn't deserve to be treated the way he was.
I think it was similar with Welsh at UVA. How they wished they had a coach that good all these years. Especially one as good as he was with QB's.
In the late 1980s, I was getting some plumbing supplies for my beach house on the OBX at the hardware store. I was at a shelf and quickly turned around and bumped into a man behind me. I apologized to him, and as I looked up. I saw it was Paul Webb.
Of course he didn't know me from Adam, but I introduced myself as an alum and he stood there and talked to me for almost an hour. He is one of the most congenial and knowledgeable people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
