Experience leads Webb to top post
NORFOLK — In addition to being an athlete and a head coach, Melody Webb has worked at virtually every level in college athletics.
It’s why she believes her varied career has prepared her for the moment she’s been waiting for.
Webb, after six years working in Norfolk State’s athletic department, was named the school’s ninth athletic director this week. She is the first woman to hold the position at NSU and one of two female ADs in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
Webb’s background as a volleyball player at Savannah State and a head coach in the sport at Bowie State has served her well, as has her versatile array of positions in athletic departments.
“I think those experiences really help put me in a unique position,” Webb said, “because now you get to see things from a student-athlete perspective, a coach perspective and an administrative perspective.”
Not that she’s reinventing the wheel at NSU. Her predecessor,
Virginia Sports Hall of Famer Marty Miller, led the department through a time of growth. Webb said she plans to continue what Miller accomplished, and not make wholesale changes.
Athletes at NSU have a composite grade-point average north of 3.0, and Webb wants to keep it that way.
“We had a lot of success with Marty Miller running the program,” she said.
“I can take the level of where we currently are and build upon it. We want to continue to build and continue to make sure that we have programs that stay above a 3.0 GPA, continue to have graduation success rate and continue to have programs that are winning.”
Before ascending to the department’s top post, Webb had served as Miller’s deputy as senior associate AD since 2014. She was responsible for managing revenue generation, fundraising and development efforts for the department, and she oversaw procurement, human resources, facility operations and the department’s day-to-day operations.
Before coming to NSU, Webb was the associate commissioner for business operations for the CIAA. Her background in budget and finance at George Washington University, as athletics business manager at Maryland and as associate AD at Elizabeth City State conspired with her time as an athlete and coach to help her rise to the top of a national search for Miller’s successor.
“As a former student-athlete at Savannah State University and head volleyball coach at Bowie State University, Ms. Webb understands intercollegiate athletics at every level,” NSU president Dr. Javaune AdamsGaston said.
Webb credited several mentors, including Miller and pioneering former Maryland AD Debbie Yow, with helping her prepare for her current role.
Webb said her vision for the department extends beyond mere on-field victories.
“One of the things I would like to focus on is creating a holistic student-athlete experience,” she said. “Really make sure that we not just promote academics, but promote more so career development and professional development, so that when our student-athletes graduate that they are graduating with a plan. That’s a real big task that’s an initiative that’s sweet and dear to my heart.”
Three schools — North Carolina A&T, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman — recently announced their intentions to leave the MEAC, shrinking the conference’s footprint from most of the East Coast to a span of just a few states, from South Carolina to Delaware.
MEAC officials are working to expand the league, looking beyond its current makeup of historically Black colleges and universities.
Combined with the challenges faced by athletic departments in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, including inevitable budget cuts and likely scaled-back travel, Webb might’ve gotten the job at the toughest time in history to lead a staff.
“I agree with that,” Webb said. “But I also think if you can make it through this, it’s one of those things: Everything else is easy. So I think we accept the challenge, and then we accept what that looks like and then accept how we can really navigate our student relationships.”