Tennessee
State names Webster head football coach
January 13, 2005
NASHVILLE --- Tennessee State University Athletics Director Teresa
Phillips has announced James Webster Jr. as the new head football
coach. The formal announcement comes after the Tennessee State
Board of Regents approval of Webster’s appointment.
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James Webster |
“This was a challenging search,” says Phillips. “When
we looked at candidates to head our football program here at
TSU we wanted to make sure that we got the best total package.
Coach Webster defines the total package— leadership,
experience and passion.”
Coach Webster’s addition begins a new chapter in the
proud history of the TSU Tigers football program. The Tigers
earned back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships in
1998 and 1999, and were ranked in first place in the NCAA Division
I-AA at the end of the regular season in 1999. TSU’s
football team has also won several National Black College Championships,
the most recent in 1982.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to be the head
coach at a university that has a great winning tradition,” said
Webster.
Coach Webster comes to TSU with more than 30 years of football
coaching experience. He served the last four seasons on the
coaching staff at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina.
Webster was the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator
at UNC. He had
previously coached the team’s defensive ends.
Webster began his college football career as a player at North
Carolina in 1968. He started at linebacker for three consecutive
seasons. Webster was a standout defensive player for the UNC
Tar Heels, and was named Most Valuable Defensive Player in
the 1971 Gator Bowl. The following year, he received the ACC’s
Brian Piccolo Award and the Frank Porter Graham Award as one
of the top 12 seniors at UNC. He graduated from UNC in 1972,
with a bachelor’s degree in education.
Webster began his coaching career in 1973 at North Carolina.
He worked with the junior varsity program under former head
coach Bill Dooley. Webster has also coached linebackers at
Dartmouth (1993-95), defensive ends at Wake Forest (1988-93),
and defensive backs at Northwestern (1982-84). He also served
on the coaching staffs at Florida (1974-75), Kansas (1975-78)
and Colorado (1978-81).
Webster has also worked with professional football teams.
He won a minority coaching fellowship with the Pittsburgh Steelers
in 1995, and another with the St. Louis Rams in 1999.
Prior to returning to UNC, Webster spent six seasons on the
coaching staff at East Carolina. He served as outside linebacker
coach from 1995-1998, and was in charge of the defensive line
from 1999-2000. Webster was promoted to assistant head coach
of the Pirates in 1998.
In his first season back in Chapel Hill, Webster had an immediate
impact on the defense. Carolina led the ACC and was ranked
15th in the nation in total defense in 2001. Under Webster’s
guidance, defensive end Julius Peppers won both the 2001 Lombardi
and Bednarik Awards, becoming the first Tar Heel to ever win
a major college football award. Peppers became just the second
Carolina player to earn consensus All-America honors. He was
drafted by the Carolina Panthers as the Number 2 overall pick
in the 2002 NFL draft.
Coach Webster and his wife, Cornelia, have one son, Kali,
and two grandsons, Tajae and Xavier.
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