.jpg)
.jpg)
|
Tracy Webster is embarking on his second season on staff at Tennessee alongside head coach Cuonzo Martin. The Harvey, Ill., native boasts nine seasons of high-major Division I coaching experience, with four NCAA Tournament berths and one Final Four appearance to his credit.
Martin and Webster have known one another since their days as hardwood rivals and All-Big Ten selections at Purdue and Wisconsin, respectively, in the early 1990s. And in September 2009, HoopScoopOnline.com ranked Webster as one of the top 50 assistant coaches in the nation.
"Tracy Webster was a great point guard," Martin said. "He has a great understanding and a great feel for how to play the game. He's a great teacher for our guards, because he was a really complete basketball player and he has a great mind for the game.
"He also adds great experience coaching in the SEC, Big Ten and Big East."
Tennessee's backcourt benefited from Webster's tutelage in 2011-12. Sophomore point guard Trae Golden led the Vols in scoring (13.6 ppg), and his 4.5 assists per game ranked fourth in the SEC. He also shot .439 from the field and was the SEC's top free-throw shooter (.903 in league games). ESPN.com's Jason King tabbed Golden as the SEC's Most Improved Player.
Golden and fellow starting backcourt mates Skylar McBee and Cameron Tatum combined to account for 28.3 points and 7.8 assists per game.
Prior to Webster's arrival on Rocky Top, he spent the 2010-11 season as an assistant at Nebraska. That was immediately preceded by one year at DePaul, during which he was elevated to the position of interim head coach in mid-January.
Webster is no stranger to the Southeastern Conference, having spent two seasons as an assistant on Billy Gillispie's staff at Kentucky. The Wildcats earned postseason bids each year, appearing in the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and reaching the NIT quarterfinals in 2009.
Webster's first foray into college coaching came at Division III Wisconsin-Parkside in 1998-99. He spent one year there before eventually moving on to Ball State, which advanced to the NIT quarterfinals during his second season on the bench in Muncie, Ind.
Gene Keady then summoned Webster for an assistant coaching position at Purdue, where Martin also was on staff. That 2003-04 Boilermakers squad also reached the NIT, giving Webster the second postseason run of his young coaching career.
Postseason success became the norm for Webster during his time as an assistant coach in the Big Ten. He spent three seasons on Bruce Weber's staff at Illinois (2005-07), helping to lead the Fighting Illini to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The 2005 squad posted an incredible 37-2 record (tying the NCAA record for wins in a season), advanced to the Final Four and finished as the national runner-up.
That 2005 Illinois team featured five eventual NBA players in James Augustine, Dee Brown, Luther Head, Roger Powell and two-time All-Star Deron Williams.
After twice earning All-State honors as a point guard at Thornton High School in Harvey, Ill.--a career that led to the Chicago Sun-Times naming him the sixth-best point guard in Chicago prep history in 1992--Webster starred at Wisconsin under head coaches Steve Yoder and Stu Jackson from (1991-94).
Webster lettered three years for the Badgers and finished his career with 1,264 points and a school-record 501 assists. He was a three-time All-Big Ten selection, including first-team accolades in 1993 when he set Wisconsin's single-season assists record with 179. In 1992, he set the school record for 3-point percentage, shooting .490 percent from beyond the arc.
After his collegiate playing career, Webster served as the coordinator of community outreach programs at Wisconsin from 1994-97 before joining the coaching ranks as the freshman head coach and assistant varsity coach at Verona Area High School in Verona, Wis., from 1997-98.
Webster spent 1999-2000 as the director of Webster Extramural Basketball Productions and as a care coordinator at Willowglen Academy in Milwaukee, Wis.
He joined Martin's Tennessee staff on April 5, 2011.
