Background
Welsh was born in Coaldale, Pennsylvania.
head coach American football player
Welsh was born in Coaldale, Pennsylvania.
United States Naval Academy.
He served as head football coach of the Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy from 1973 to 1981, and the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia from 1982 to 2000. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2004. Welsh compiled the most wins in the history of both the Navy and Virginia football programs.
He played for the Navy Midshipmen from 1952 to 1955, and was a first-team All-American at quarterback in 1955.
After graduating from the United States. Naval Academy in 1956, he served as an assistant coach under Rip Engle and Joe Paterno at Penn State from 1963 to 1972. Welsh began his head coaching career at the United States. Naval Academy in 1973.
He inherited a Navy Midshipmen football program that had only had one winning season since the end of the Roger Staubach era. In nine seasons, Welsh compiled a record of 55–46–1, making him the service academy"s most successful coach.
In 1982, Welsh left Navy to become the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers.
He walked into a situation even worse than the one he had inherited at Navy. Prior to his arrival, Virginia had only two winning seasons in the previous 29 years and had never been to a post-season bowl game. In 1987, Virginia started a streak of 13 straight seasons with seven or more wins.
This stretch included shared Administrative Committee on Company-ordination titles in 1989 and 1995 and 11 additional bowl appearances.
His 1990 team was ranked Number. 1 in both polls for two weeks in October—the only time a Division I team from the Commonwealth has been ranked Number.
1 in a major poll. His 1995 team defeated Florida State 33-28 on November 2, the first time the Seminoles had lost a conference game since joining the conference.
He retired after the 2000 season due to health concerns. In 19 years as the Cavaliers" head coach, he became the most successful coach in school and Atlantic Coast Conference history.
Upon his retirement after the 2000 season, his 189 career victories ranked him 24th in Division I-A history. In 2009, Welsh was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.