Legendary Leaders Doland, Webb to be Inducted into Southland Conference Hall of Honor
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Two former university presidents, Dr. Jack Doland of McNeese State and Dr. Randy Webb of Northwestern State, both with extensive involvement and oversight of intercollegiate athletics, will be inducted as the Southland Conference Hall of Honor’s Class of 2015. The induction, part of the Conference’s Spring Meeting, will take place during its Honors Ceremony on May 19, at Frisco’s Westin Stonebriar Hotel.
Doland and Webb will become the 45th and 46th inductees to the Southland Hall of Honor since it was originated in 1999. They are also just the third and fourth presidents inducted, joining Lamar‘s F.L. McDonald and Stephen F. Austin’s William Johnson, both first-year entrants in 1999.
“We are truly honored to recognize and celebrate the distinguished careers of Presidents Doland and Webb,” Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett said. “Both presidents served as outstanding academicians with great knowledge of and participation within athletics. These are two truly deserving Hall of Honor inductees.”
Doland holds the unique standing of serving as McNeese State’s head football coach (1970-78), athletic director (1971-1980) and president (1980-87), and while on the field, he was one of only two NCAA coaches with a Ph.D. As an athletic administrator, he led McNeese’s efforts to gain admission into the Southland Conference in 1972, and also used considerable influence to help start the Independence Bowl that hosted the Southland football champion from 1976-80.
A native of Lake Arthur, La., Doland was a football and basketball student-athlete at then McNeese Junior College before earning his bachelor’s degree from Tulane in 1950. He played baseball and football at Tulane, and was a member of the Green Wave’s 1949 SEC championship team. He later earned his master’s and doctoral degree from LSU, and was a member of Phi Delta Kappa.
After two years as a professional baseball player, Doland enjoyed tremendous success as a high school football coach in southwest Louisiana, both at DeQuincy High and Sulphur High, where his team won the 1965 Class AAA championship. He served as an assistant football coach at LSU from 1965-70, before returning to McNeese.
His nine-year coaching record at McNeese was 63-32-3 overall, and led the Cowboys to their first Southland championship in 1976, earning Southland Coach of the Year honors. In the inaugural Independence Bowl in Shreveport that season, Doland led the team to a 20-16 win over prohibitive favorite Tulsa. Before joining the Southland, his 1971 McNeese team was ranked No. 1 in Division II, and played in the Grantland Rice Bowl.
Doland left the McNeese presidency in 1987 to run for and successfully serve in the Louisiana State Senate. He died in 1991 after a long bout with cancer. He was inducted into the McNeese State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1970 and into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. McNeese State’s Jack V. Doland Field House and Athletic Complex is named in his honor.
Webb, a native of Haynesville, La., arrived at Northwestern State in the fall of 1961 as a walk-on center on the Demons’ football team. Four years later, he graduated with degrees in mathematics and business education. He earned his master’s in mathematics from Northwestern in 1966, and earned a doctorate in education with a concentration in mathematics and research from Southern Mississippi in 1971.
After serving on the faculty at Longwood College in Virginia from 1966-74, he returned to his home state as the Director of Higher Education and Teacher Certification with the Louisiana Department of Education. In 1976-83, Webb served as Director of Institutional Research and EEO officer at Southeastern Louisiana University, and was Southeastern’s registrar and a part-time mathematics faculty member from 1983-89.
Webb returned to his alma mater in 1989 as Northwestern State’s Dean of Instruction and Graduate Studies, and served as a member of the math faculty. He became the 18th president of Northwestern State on July 1, 1996, and became N Northwestern State’s longest-tenured president at the time of his retirement in 2014. His term as president was marked with record enrollment and increases in retention, incoming ACT scores, and graduation rates.
He led the university’s first capital campaign, and its goal of $18.84 million actually turned into $32.7 million, leading to the establishment of numerous endowed chairs and professorships to enhance academic improvement. A second capital campaign in 2009 surpassed its goal of $25 million with a total of $36 million in contributions. During Webb’s tenure, Northwestern also received more federal and state grant monies than at any other time in the institution’s history.
On the athletics side, Webb remains an avid supporter of Demon athletics, and devoted himself to ensuring the university’s athletic programs remained competitively successful. He served the Southland Conference as chair of its Board of Directors, and remained an enthusiastic advocate of the league throughout his presidential term.
When it came to national issues in intercollegiate athletics, Webb was an active participant while representing the Southland on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and the NCAA Executive Committee from 2001-05. He also served on the NCAA Division I Presidential Advisory Group from 2005-13.
The induction of former presidents Doland and Webb coincides with a current review and likely implementation of a more formal process to automatically add other notable deserving chief executive candidates in future years.