Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Mountain Brook head coach Joe Webb talks with the Spartans during halftime of a game against Oak Mountain at Oak Mountain High School on March 14.
Twenty-eight years and more than 500 wins into his career, Mountain Brook High School boys soccer coach Joe Webb sticks to the principles he instilled upon his arrival in 1996.
“Two years ago, one of the players on the team was the son of one of the players on my very first Mountain Brook team,” Webb said. “We had a running joke that we have the same rules now as we did when his dad was here.”
His tried-and-true coaching philosophy received extra validation on Feb. 22, when his Spartans defeated Woodlawn 11-1, making Webb the fourth coach in state history to break the 500-win mark.
It was fitting that Webb, who has been involved with Birmingham soccer his entire life, reached the milestone against a familiar local foe.
“I played at Huffman way back when, and Huffman and Woodlawn were always rivals, so I enjoyed going over to Woodlawn just for that sake. I've been over there a thousand times now,” he said. “It was cool to [do it] at a place where I felt so comfortable.”
Webb made more history just a few weeks later, when his Spartans took on Oak Mountain, coached by fellow 500-game winner David DiPiazza. The game was the first matchup of 500-win coaches in Alabama history, a moment made all the more special by the pair’s longstanding friendship.
“David, when he was in high school at John Carroll, I was an assistant coach there,” Webb said. “We go way back. When he went off to college, I think he went to Memphis first, and then from there he transferred to Birmingham-Southern, which is where I played. We had that moment, and it was really cool.”
Despite leading all active Alabama coaches in victories, Webb rarely reminisces on individual games, he said. Instead, he prefers to reflect on the relationships he’s built with his players and his coaches.
“My first win at Mountain Brook was actually against Huffman,” he said. “It was tough emotionally just because I knew all the kids on the other team. I tell people all the time — I treat these kids like they're my own more than people realize sometimes. You get attached to them.
“Whatever the record is at the end of the season, what you're going to remember is something that happened in practice, something that happened at a game, something that happened traveling to a game, something that happened on one of our bus rides,” he added. “Those are the memories that stick with you, really.”
Behind-the-scenes moments like those are why Webb continues to love his job.
“Winning 500 games just means I've been around for a long time,” he said. “And the fact that I get to keep doing something that I love for such a long time just shocks me every day. My dad used to joke that I would do this for free if it was possible for me to do it for free.
“I love what I do,” Webb added. “I coach club, I referee. I love the game and I love helping other people try to love the game.”
