PITTSBURGH PANTHERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Big East Coaches
- Director, Men's & Women 's Track & Field / Cross Country
- Head Coach, Women 's Track & Field / Cross Country
- Kent State in 1999 As an Assistant Coach
The 2020-21 campaign will serve as Alonzo Webb's 19 th season as head coach of the track & field and cross country programs at Pitt. Since taking over the program, Webb has helped the Pitt track and field team compete year in and year out on the national stage.
Throughout his tenure at Pitt, Webb has produced 77 NCAA All-Americans, 30 ECAC/IC4A champions, nine ACC champions and 73 Big East champions. For Webb's first 11 years on the job, the Panthers competed in the Big East before making the move to the ACC in 2013-14.
Since joining the ACC, Webb has helped to produce 17 different All-Americans who have combined to receive 33 All-America honors and has had 32 of his athletes qualify for NCAA Championships. He has also coached nine ACC Champions including current Panther and 2019 indoor ACC Champ in the high jump Greg Lauray.
Under Webb's tutelage, the Panthers have also been strong inside the classroom over the years as they have produced 33 All-ACC Academic Team members since joining the league in 2013-14. The Panthers have also seen 425 student-athletes earn a spot on the ACC Honor Roll (SA's with at least a 3.0 GPA) since joining the league.
The 2019-20 indoor campaign started off strong for the Panthers as they had a pair of student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time since 2014. Shyheim Wright qualified for NCAA's for the first time in his career as he was tied for the seventh fastest time in the country in the 60m hurdles (7.67 seconds) while Greg Lauray qualified in the high jump clearing the ninth best height (7'3.75", 2.23m) in the nation. Before Lauray was able to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the event was canceled due to COVID-19 and Lauray was awarded All-American honors for the first time in his career.
Webb joined Kent State in 1999 as an assistant coach and was promoted to associate head coach in 2000. He worked with both the men's and women's programs, focusing on the sprints, hurdles, jumps and multi-events.
Alonzo Webb III joined the Pitt track and field coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach in 2010 before his promotion to assistant coach in 2011. Webb's primary duties including working with the jumpers and multi-event athletes.
A Pittsburgh native, Webb has been an integral part of the Panthers' coaching staff, guiding student-athletes to the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Championships in each of Pitt's years as a member of the league.
During the 2015 season, he guided Luke Gallaher to school records in heptathlon and decathlon as well as All-ACC honors, and helped Imani Brown record a school record in outdoor triple jump.
Over his first two seasons on staff, his combined 17 student-athletes had all qualified for the Big East Championship Meet.
In his first season with the Panthers, all nine of Webb's athletes reached both the 2011 Big East Indoor and Outdoor Championships, including Ashley Corum winning the indoor triple jump as a freshman. Subsequently, five of his student-athletes qualified for the IC4A Championships, while one of them went on to reach the NCAA Championships and two qualified for the USA Junior National Championships.
In 2012, Webb coached three student-athletes en route to their top-five finishes at the Big East Indoor Championship Meet. Webb helped Reggie Steele place third at the IC4A Championships in the long jump and qualify for the NCAA Outdoor National Championship meet. Webb also saw Gallaher earn a spot USA Junior National Team in high jump. At the ECAC/IC4A Championships, every athlete who qualified made the finals, recording sixth and ninth place to go along with the unlikely first-place finish in the women's heptathlon.
He coached Elizabeth Kline en route to two Big East Championships, as well as an ECAC Championship and a spot at the National Championship in heptathlon in 2012-13. Additionally, he guided Julia Koloski to a Big East Championship, and sent her and Ashley Corum to the NCAA Regional Meet.
Webb is a 2010 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor's degree in communications with a related area in Africana studies. He was a member of the Panthers' track and field team, competing under his father, head coach Alonzo Webb. He participated primarily in high jump and long jump.
Webb resides in Pittsburgh and welcomed his first child, Zara Noel, in October 2017.
Darryl Weston joined the University of Pittsburgh athletics department in November 2010 as coordinator of track and field operations under the supervision of head coach Alonzo Webb. In 2016 Weston's working title was officially changed to director of track and field operations, where his role has continued to grow with respects to the track and field and cross country programs.
Weston was the first coordinator of operations in Pitt track and field history. Within his first year his value to the program was recognized and he was brought on as a full-time athletics department staff member. Keeping his working title as coordinator, the primary duty of travel logistics remained, with the additions staff and official visit travel needs, budget management, compliance liaison, Life Skills liaison, and video liaison.
In his initial duties, Weston served the Pitt cross country and track and field programs as it pertained to team travel needs, including but not limited to securing team accommodation contracts, producing final travel list, producing detailed itineraries for team members and coaches, keeping track of contractual and event entry deadlines.
Prior to his arrival at Pitt, Weston was director of football operations for the University of Akron from April 2007 to November 2009, serving under former Pitt football coach J.D. Brookhart, whom had become University of Akron head coach before the 2004 season. During his tenure at Pitt, Brookhart coached Biletnikoff Award winners Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald. As director of football operations at the University of Akron, Weston was responsible for team travel, summer 7-on-7 and individual prospect camps, academic liaison, coordination of official visits, community service event coordination, CARA log and roster management, along with daily office duties.
Before his tenure at the University of Akron, Weston served two seasons as a graduate assistant for football operations at Marshall University, where he earned a master's degree in sport administration with emphasis on marketing and management. Working under Marshall Thundering Herd Assistant Athletic Director of Football Operations Mark Gale, Weston assisted with team travel, coordination of daily training table, securing daily practice access, logging attendance at all team functions, daily class checks.
A 2004 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor's in communications and rhetoric and related area of sociology, Weston was also a member of the Pitt football team where in the fall of 2000 he was named Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year for his efforts in preparing the defense for each weekend's upcoming opponent. Due to medical reasons Weston had to end his playing career early after the 2002 playing season. In 2003 he began his operations career, assisting Associate Athletic Director of Football Administration Chris LaSala with daily duties around the UPMC Sports Performance Complex and team related activities on campus.
A Pittsburgh native, Weston resides in the Friendship area of the city.
Job Titles:
- Coach of Men
- Head Coach, Cross Country
Griff Graves was hired as the Head Coach of Men's and Women's Cross Country and Distance in August of 2023.
Graves comes to Pittsburgh after spending the last five years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Syracuse, where he worked primarily with the Orange's distance runners. Most recently, the Orange scored in all six NCAA Championship events, across men's and women's cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field during the 2022-23 season. At the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the Syracuse men took 12 th place and the women finished 23 rd. Under Graves' tutelage, the Orange men claimed the 2019 ACC Cross Country Championship and won the NCAA Northeast Region Cross Country Championship in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
Prior to Graves' return to the Orange, he served as the operations assistant for the Florida State cross country and track and field programs. During his one-year stint in the sunshine state, the Seminoles won both the men's and women's ACC Indoor Track and Field titles, with the men also claiming the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Graves began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Appalachian State in 2016-17, helping the Mountaineers' women's team to a Sun Belt Cross Country title.
Job Titles:
- Sports Administrative Assistant
Julie Brennan joined the Athletic Department at the University of Pittsburgh in November of 2022. Brennan previously worked as a preschool teacher at the University Child Development Center at Pitt.
Brennan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. She loves to cheer on the Panthers alongside her kids. Julie's three children are following in her proud Pitt footsteps. All are Pitt graduates, or a soon to be graduate.
A Pittsburgh native, Brennan resides in Lawrenceville with her husband.
Job Titles:
- Woment 's Track & Field Volunteer Assistant Coach - Distance