From his playing days as a quarterback at the
U.S. Naval Academy to his time as an assistant
coach at Navy, his tenure as a head coach at Navy
and then his 19 years as the head football coach at
Virginia, George Welsh was all about winning.
When Welsh retired in 2000, his 134 wins at
Virginia were — and still are — the second most
of any ACC coach (Florida State's Bobby Bowden
has the most).
Welsh was voted the ACC Coach of the Year four
times and the National Coach of the Year in 1991.
Come Dec. 6, Welsh will formally become an
ACC Class of 2014 Legend.
CAVALIER CORNER: When you were appointed
the head football coach at the University of Vir-
ginia, what was the most difficult obstacle you felt
you had to overcome in order to develop a winning
program?
WELSH: "Facilities. They were really bad. I
inherited some good players, and considering the
situation we had a decent recruiting class including
two good tailbacks [Howard Petty and Barry Word]
out of that class.
"But I didn't think we could compete without
better facilities."
CAVALIER CORNER: In retrospect, did you ever
envision the success you would have, and in either
case why?
WELSH: "When I took the job I brought a lot of
my staff with me [from Navy]. We felt we could
win if we had a certain amount of talent. Virginia
then and now is a good state for high school foot-
ball.
"As far as envisioning anything, I developed
FIVE QUESTIONS
UVA AND ACC LEGEND GEORGE WELSH
PHOTO BY JIM DAVES/COURTESY UVA
