Oct 27, 2017
| Webb Hatch has had a nearly 30-year career as a Division III head coach with 10 seasons at Marymount followed by 18 at Frostburg State. Frostburg State athletics photo |
Webb Hatch, who is the winningest coach in Frostburg State men's basketball history, announced that the upcoming season with the Bobcats will be his last. He made his announcement to the Bobcats players and coaching staff last week.
“This group of seniors, Tyler (Michael), Dalton (Gaus), Jeff (McMorris) and Chris (Coston), they are four-year seniors,” said Hatch in the University's release. “When we recruited them four years ago, I was thinking this might be the last group of kids that I’ll coach four years.”
The Bobcats return 11 players, including All-CAC Second Team selection Tyler Michael, and the Bobcats capped last winter with an 86-80 overtime upset of No. 11 ranked Salisbury on senior day. Frostburg State finished last season 7-18, 6-12 in the CAC.
“I would love to see the guys that have been in the program that last three years make the CAC Tournament in their final year,” stated Hatch. “I think we have a nice blend of older players and talented newcomers and I do think that the returning players are very motivated.”
Hatch came to Frostburg, Md. in August 1999 and posted his best record with the Bobcats a season later in 2000-01. Frostburg State went 20-10 and won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament. The AMCC did not have an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA tournament so the Bobcats played in the ECAC South tournament. Hatch enters the 2017-18 campaign with a 207-264 record at Frostburg in 18 seasons.
Previously Hatch spent 10 seasons as the head coach of Marymount where he went 107-149. The Saints won the regular season CAC title under Hatch in 1990-91 and the CAC tournament in 1991-92. He also served as an assistant coach at Virginia Wesleyan and his alma mater Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
“My biggest thought was how badly am I going to miss coaching,” added Hatch. “I’m still not sure about it and while I’m moving on from being the head coach at Frostburg, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m giving up on coaching forever.”
Frostburg State opens the season on the road against Case Western Reserve on Nov. 17.