Wyatt Webb (1981) - Hall of Fame - University of Akron Athletics

Wyatt Webb

Induction:
1981
Class:
1964

1968-75
Coach
Basketball
‘64
In 1959, Wyatt became the first basketball player recruited by Tony Laterza in his first season at the helm of the UA basketball program. Little did Laterza, nor anyone else, know that nine years later Webb would be succeeding him as the Zips’ 13th head coach. A four-year letterman and standout guard, Webb scored 730 points as Zip cager. In 1962-63, his senior campaign. Webb served as tri-captain and helped UA compile a 22-3 mark—one of the best in Akron U Basketball. After graduating from the University in 1964, Webb went on to the Cincinnati where he earned his master’s degree (1965) and was schooled in coaching under masterful Ed Jucker. The next two years he exuded knowledge of basketball through an association with Fred Taylor at Ohio State while earning his doctorate in education. He returned to his alma mater as an assistant to Laterza for the 1967-68 season and took over the helm the following season at the ripe age of 26—one of those rare individuals whose head coaching career began on the college level. Inheriting only two lettermen, Webb began his career with a rather dubious 8-18 record. However, he rebounded to produce six straight winning seasons and brought UA national prominence before resigning prior to the start of the 1975-76 campaign. Four of his last five teams earned NCAA post-season tournament bids. In capturing 26 wins an all-time high, in 31 games, Webb’s 1971-72 forces won the NCAA Mideast Championship and finished national runner-up to Roanoke in the NCAA Finals in Evansville, Indiana. His 1972-73 squad and his ’74-75 team captured NCAA Regional Championships while compiling 22-5 and 20-0 marks, respectively. His seven-year coaching mark reads126 wins and 60 losses, but his last five seasons totaled 106 wins and only 31 losses for a percentage of 77.4 Webb, who has been on the faculty in the UA Department of Physical Education since 1967, was inducted into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame in 1975 and recently was inducted into the ODK honorary. He is married the former Barbara McDonald, a 1964 UA graduate, and they have three girls and a boy, The Webb’s reside in Fairlawn.