Tracy Webster

Tracy Webster, who has one Final Four appearance and extensive playing and coaching experience on his resume, is the newest member of the Husker staff, as he was named an assistant coach in August of 2010.

Webster, who was ranked by Hoop Scoop among the top-50 assistant coaches in the country in September of 2009, joined the Huskers after one season at DePaul. While he was originally hired at the Big East Conference school as an assistant coach, Webster was named interim head coach on Jan. 12, 2010, and guided the Blue Demons through the remainder of conference play. While DePaul struggled to the finish, their first win under Webster came with a home victory over NCAA Tournament-bound Marquette.

The move to DePaul came after two years as an assistant under Billy Gillispie at Kentucky in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Wildcats earned an NCAA bid in Webster's first season in Lexington and then reached the NIT quarterfinals in his second year. Those bids were the sixth and seventh postseason appearances by teams Webster has helped coach over the past 12 years, including four NCAA Tournament squads.

Webster also has a wealth of coaching knowledge and recruiting experience in the Big Ten Conference. He spent three years (2004-05 to 2006-07) as an assistant to Bruce Weber at Illinois, taking the Fighting Illini to three NCAA bids. During his first season in Champaign, Webster coached on the team that reached the Final Four, where it finished as national runner-up with a 37-2 record, at the time tying the NCAA record for most wins in a season.

A native of the Chicagoland area (Harvey, Ill.), Webster had his first coaching stint in the Big Ten during the 2003-04 season. That year, he worked under Gene Keady with the Purdue Boilermakers, where he started strengthening his recruiting in areas like his hometown Chicago along with Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis and other Midwestern recruiting hotbeds.

Purdue reached the NIT that season, the second straight year Webster's team saw postseason action. A year earlier, Webster helped Ball State to the NIT quarterfinals. It was his second year with the Cardinals after spending one year at Division III University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Webster began his coaching career as the head freshman and varsity assistant coach at Verona High School in Wisconsin from 1997-98. Prior to his tenure at Ball State, Webster spent 1999-2000 as the director of Webster Extramural Basketball Productions and as a care coordinator at Willowglen Academy in Milwaukee.

As a player, Webster was an All-Big Ten Conference guard at Wisconsin, where he played under Steve Yoder and Stu Jackson. Webster lettered three years and finished his career with 1,264 points and a school-record 501 assists. He earned all-league honors three times, including first-team accolades when he set the school single-season record with 179 assists in 1993. He added a school-record mark for 3-point percentage, hitting 49.0 percent beyond the arc in 1992.

After wrapping up his playing career, Webster served as the coordinator of community outreach programs at Wisconsin from 1994 to 1997 before getting into the coaching ranks.

Webster attended Thornton High School in Harvey, Ill., where he played four years and was a two-time all-state selection. He was selected the sixth-best point guard in Chicago history by the Chicago Sun Times in 1992.

Webster resides in Lincoln with his wife, Shenetta.