As Pitt Prepares For The ACC Championships This Weekend, Know This: No One Will Be Better Dressed Than The Panthers' Head Coach

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

University of Pittsburgh photos

PITTSBURGH — On a warm, humid afternoon in West Oakland, Pa., coach Alonzo Webb waves me across Allequippa Street and leads me to his office in Fitzgerald Field House.

He’s dressed head-to-toe in Pitt Panthers athletic gear — piercing royal blue with gold accents. He says, chuckling, “I’m sorry to have disappointed you.”

Webb and I have known each other for a total of five minutes, and in that time, he’s been nothing but cordial. Yet, we both know exactly what he’s referring to. He’s out of his element this afternoon, or at least out of the element that people are used to seeing him in. 

Alonzo Webb is not wearing a suit.

It’s an odd sight, to say the least. In the last 10 to 15 years — he can’t exactly remember when he started to do this consistently — Webb has become famous in the NCAA track and field world for being the only coach to wear a full suit to every meet his team attends.

“That’s how I’m known to the entire country,” he says.

Webb used to save his dress attire for the most important meets of his team’s season, like the ACC Outdoor Championships his Panthers will compete at this weekend. Now, there is almost nothing that can stop the 71-year-old from suiting up. Rain or shine, blizzard or heatwave, he’s dressed to the nines. 

There’s only one time he can recall breaking his dress code. “This was probably when we were still in the Big East,” he says, “so it had to be over 10 years ago.” Webb and the Panthers had traveled to Duke for a meet, and it was about 90 degrees outside. Admittedly, he had seen far worse — even in the 100-degree heat of the Texas Relays, he had never wavered — but the humidity was “through the roof,” as he recalls.

“I just couldn’t take it anymore,” Webb says. He gave in to the elements, taking off his jacket. Of course, he was still the best-dressed coach in sight.

In an age where casual dress is sweeping the college coaching landscape, Webb stands out, and he’s happy to. He enjoys having his own style, as well as the constant stream of compliments he’s bound to receive wherever he goes. 

But Webb’s fascination with suits goes far beyond fashion. Ironically, it reflects his blue-collar upbringing, as well as the values he impresses upon his athletes.

His story starts with, in his words, “powdered eggs, powdered milk and government cheese.” Webb grew up one of nine children on Pittsburgh’s North Side, and his family lived off of welfare for most of his childhood.

During long, hot summer days, he found refuge in the Carnegie Library, where he would stay for hours and read about the Olympics.

“Back then, I probably could have told you about just about every Olympic athlete in track and field,” he says. “You know, what their stats were, what their places were, all that.”

Webb loved looking at pictures from historic moments in the sport — the ones where coaches looked excitedly down the home stretch with stopwatches in their hands. He noticed something about those coaches: they were all wearing suits. 

“I was like, ‘Man, that’s pretty cool,’” he says. “So I said, ‘I’m gonna bring that back.’”

His influences weren’t confined to track; Webb grew up in the era of Tom Landry and Bear Bryant, legendary football coaches who had reputations for looking sharp. That was the standard. 

First, though, he was an outstanding athlete, a jumper and decathlete for Western Michigan. 

By the time he entered the collegiate coaching ranks, though, suits and ties had fallen out of favor. Webb took an assistant role with Kent State in 1999, at which point coaches’ attire regularly included athletic gear. For a major meet, one might have thrown on a polo shirt and some slacks, but formality was no longer an expectation.

Webb speaks with a tinge of disdain about this trend, but it is not deep-seated. He recognizes that all coaches have their own styles, which is why he doesn’t require his assistant coaches to follow in his footsteps.

One of those assistant coaches is his son, Alonzo Webb III. Webb III is well-prepared for my question — one he’s heard dozens of times — about why he doesn’t wear suits like his father. He has three answers locked and loaded.

The first is simple: “(Webb) doesn’t pay me enough,” he says, laughing.

The second is that, in his words, “I’m just not as cool as that guy.” He laughs about that one, too.

The third is more serious. Webb III started coaching in his early 20s, and from day one, he branded himself as an “athlete-forward” coach. He wanted to be around his athletes as much as possible, helping them with whatever they needed, and that meant being active in workouts and meets. It required comfort, hence the athletic gear.

One day, he says, he may carry on his father’s legacy, but for now, he’s doing what feels right to him. Technically, he’s already following the blueprint; Webb didn’t start wearing suits consistently until well into his career. Like his father, Webb III doesn’t remember exactly when the suits started — he believes it was around 2013 — but he remembers the moment.

Up to this point, Webb might have worn a suit for a major meet, but only on the last day. Only for the marquee action.

“He showed up, and it wasn’t the final day of the meet,” Webb III recalls, “and I’m like, ‘Dad, why are you wearing a suit?’”

Webb’s answer? “This is what all the greats did.”

Webb felt strong about his choice, as he does today. He says it’s about showing respect for the sport and for the institution he represents, both of which he is passionate about. 

Still, the transition wasn’t seamless.

“I felt really awkward and odd and weird at first,” he says.

He remembers people snickering and pointing at him, which admittedly shook him a bit. It took him a while to get over that discomfort, but his pride and passion outmatched his desire to fit in. Eventually, the crowds accepted that this was the way Alonzo Webb was going to look.

After gaining confidence, he decided to up the ante.

“After a while,” he says, “I wanted a different look, you know. I didn’t want the plain suits.”

He started with bow ties — despite not knowing how to tie them at first — and then made some more bold moves. “Probably in the last five years, I got really crazy with the suits,” he says. He’s not afraid to take a chance with a color combination, a pocket square, accessories, or anything, really.

His look also changes depending on where he’s at. “Different parts of the country, they have different styles, different fabrics,” he says. He often visits stores when he’s at meets so he can see what the trends are in a particular city.

Three weeks ago, when he was at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, he left with more suits than he came with.

Still, he always tries to keep his fashion true to himself.

“I’ve just sort of got my own style,” he says.

That sense of individuality is carried throughout his program. Despite being a Power 4 team, the Panthers have not had their own track for the entirety of Webb’s tenure. Webb sees that as a “badge of honor,” something that plays into the blue-collar culture of the Pitt program. Everything is about overcoming obstacles, and seeing Webb — someone who, given his upbringing, considers it miraculous that he’s in the position he’s in — standing on the infield in an immaculate suit serves as a perfect reminder of that for his athletes.

“Pittsburgh is a blue-collar city,” he says, “and that means we don’t make excuses and we don’t accept excuses.”

Webb expects a lot out of his athletes, especially off the track. He wants them to succeed in athletics, obviously, but he knows many of them will not make this sport their livelihood. Even if they do, they’ll still have over half of their life left when they retire.

“You can win a national title,” he says. “You can go to the Olympic Games and win a gold medal in 2028 or 2032. But after that’s all said and done, you’re not even 30 years old. Now, who are you?”

He tries to impart as many lessons as he can. Be early, not on time. Keep your word. Don’t be a follower.

One of the biggest ones? When you’re competing, you’re on business. 

“Even though we might go down to Florida, where the beaches are, or go out to California, where the beaches are,” he says, “this is not a vacation, it’s a business trip.”

For this reason, he makes his athletes dress business casual when they’re traveling for meets. Many of them balked at first when this was implemented, but not anymore. They recognize that it’s part of the expectations (of course, it also helps that they receive compliments wherever they go). Webb says they actually look forward to dressing up now.

The ACC championship meet this weekend is no exception. When they traveled to Wake Forest on Tuesday, they were dressed business casual, and of course, Webb was suited up. Webb says he’s packed seven full suits for the weekend.

Webb wants to see his athletes, especially his seniors, perform to their full potential this weekend. For many of them, this will be their last opportunity to perform in a Pitt uniform.

“My hope is that they have the best ACC meet of their career, not just for the team, but for them,” he says. "I want them to end on a high note.”

He also hopes — and believes — that seeing him suited up will help them perform their best. “It’s a constant reminder, ‘Hey, we’re here for business,’” he says.

It’s also a reminder of the people he wants them to be.

“I always tell the athletes, ‘This is not about track and field. This is about life.’”