George Welsh (American football)

George Welsh

Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1933-08-26) August 26, 1933 Coaldale, Pennsylvania
Playing career
1952–1955	Navy
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1963–1972	Penn State (assistant)
1973–1981	Navy
1982–2000	Virginia
Head coaching record
Overall	189–132–4
Bowls	5–10
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 ACC (1989, 1995)
Awards
First-team All-American (1955) Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1991) 4x ACC Coach of the Year (1983, 1984, 1991, 1995)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 2004 (profile)

George Welsh (born August 26, 1933) is an American former college football player and coach. 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.

Welsh was born in Coaldale, Pennsylvania. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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. He led the Midshipmen to three bowl game appearances and their first nine-win season in 16 years. 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. The Cavaliers had also only one winning record in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, had only finished higher than fourth twice, and had only won 33 conference games in 29 years of ACC play. Welsh turned around the program quickly, leading Virginia to a win in the school's first-ever bowl appearance, the 1984 Peach Bowl. In 1987, Virginia started a streak of 13 straight seasons with seven or more wins. This stretch included shared ACC titles in 1989 and 1995 and 11 additional bowl appearances. His teams also compiled four nine-win seasons, including a school-record 10 wins in 1989. His 1990 team was ranked No. 1 in both polls for two weeks in October—the only time a Division I team from the Commonwealth has been ranked No. 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. His conference win totals were later surpassed by Bobby Bowden of Florida State, but he remains far and away the most successful coach in UVa history (his 134 wins are more than double those of runner-up Al Groh). He was named ACC Coach of the Year four times (1983, 1984, 1991 and 1995) and National Coach of the Year once (1991).

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.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Navy Midshipmen (NCAA Division I / I-A independent) (1973–1981)
1973	Navy	4–7
1974	Navy	4–7
1975	Navy	7–4
1976	Navy	4–7
1977	Navy	5–6
1978	Navy	9–3			W Holiday	17
1979	Navy	7–4
1980	Navy	8–4			L Garden State
1981	Navy	7–4–1			L Liberty
Navy:		55–46–1
Virginia Cavaliers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1982–2000)
1982	Virginia	2–9	1–5	6th
1983	Virginia	6–5	3–3	T–4th
1984	Virginia	8–2–2	3–1–2	2nd	W Peach	17	20
1985	Virginia	6–5	4–3	T–3rd
1986	Virginia	3–8	2–5	T–6th
1987	Virginia	8–4	5–2	2nd	W All-American
1988	Virginia	7–4	5–2	2nd
1989	Virginia	10–3	6–1	T–1st	L Florida Citrus	15	18
1990	Virginia	8–4	5–2	T–2nd	L Sugar	15	23
1991	Virginia	8–3–1	4–2–1	4th	L Gator
1992	Virginia	7–4	4–4	T–4th
1993	Virginia	7–5	5–3	T–3rd	L Carquest
1994	Virginia	9–3	5–3	T–3rd	W Independence	13	15
1995	Virginia	9–4	7–1	T–1st	W Peach	17	16
1996	Virginia	7–5	5–3	4th	L Carquest
1997	Virginia	7–4	5–3	T–3rd
1998	Virginia	9–3	6–2	3rd	L Peach	18	18
1999	Virginia	7–5	5–3	T–2nd	L MicronPC
2000	Virginia	6–6	5–3	4th	L Oahu
Virginia:		134–86–3	85–51–3
Total:		189–132–4
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

See also

• Legends Poll
• List of NCAA major college football yearly passing leaders
• List of NCAA major college football yearly total offense leaders

External links

• George Welsh at the College Football Hall of Fame
• George Welsh at the College Football Data Warehouse