Resurrection man

Sporting News, The, August 17, 1998 by Dave Johnson

GEORGE WELSH has turned a moribund Virginia program into one of the nation's most consistent-and along the way, he has become the nation's best coach

At this stage of his life, George Welsh envisioned himself with a flexible schedule and time to travel. Maybe he'd even take up golf and see what all the fuss is about.

Instead, he's fretting over his kicking game, which could be the difference between a good season and a special one for his Virginia football team.

Less than two weeks shy of his 65th birthday, Welsh is m the twilight years of a remarkable coaching career mat remains somewhat arcane outside the ACC. He's the winningest coach in a league that includes Frank Howard, Danny Ford and Lou Holtz among its alumni and he has won at least twice as many games at Virginia (112) as any other coach m school history. (Bobby Bowden has coached in the ACC since Florida State joined the conference in 1992 and has 65 wins, 47 in the conference.)

That resume isn't lost on everyone, which is why The Sporting News is declaring Welsh the best coach in college football today. Welsh, predictably, snickered when informed of this. "Well," he then says, "maybe it'll help with recruiting."

How can a man who hasn't won an outfight conference title--much less a national championship--be considered the nation's best coach? Simple: We use the "Bum Phillips Maxim." When praising Don Shula, Phillips once said, "He can take his'n and beat your'n, or he can take your'n and beat his'n." No, we're not comparing Welsh to Shula. We're just using the rationale that if everything were equal in terms of talent, a Welsh-coached team usually would prevail over a team coached by somebody else.

Other coaches praise Welsh for his work ethic, for his teams always being prepared and for his sideline work during a game.

"They don't beat themselves; you have to beat them," Bowden says of Welsh-coached teams. "There's kind of a saying in football: You don't win games, you lose them. If you win, the other team has found a way to lose it. You get a punt blocked, fumble, throw an interception .... He's one of those guys who doesn't lose them. You have to beat him."

Welsh is the fifth-oldest coach in Division I-A--behind Penn State's Joe Paterno (71), Iowa's Hayden Fry (69), Bowden (68) and BYU's LaVell Edwards (67)--yet he hopes to coach into the next century and into his 70s. As long as he feels productive, healthy and energized, why not?

"I had it in the back of my mind when I was in my 40s that maybe 58 or 60 sounded like a good age to retire," says Welsh, who needs 33 victories to become the 17th Division I-A coach to reach 200. "Then I pretty much made up my mind six or seven years ago that I was going to coach until I was 62 or 63. That was it.

"But then I changed my mind a few years ago when I got the contract to go through the year 2000. I'm going to talk to Terry (Holland, Virginia's athletic director) about a couple of years' extension. After that, I'll take it one year at a time and see. But I've changed my mind so many times before."

Welsh also has changed the perception of the Cavaliers' program, which was a joke when he arrived in 1982; Virginia had had two winning seasons in almost three decades. Friends like then-Maryland coach Jerry Claiborne advised him to avoid the place like a leaking nuclear plant. But Welsh was convinced he could turn things around--"I was naive in a lot of ways," he says--and 16 years later, Virginia has become a model of consistency.

This is one of those cases where numbers do tell the story. Consider:

* From 1953 to '81, the Cavaliers finished above .500 twice. Now, Virginia is one of four programs--with Michigan, Nebraska and Florida State--that has won at least seven games in each of the past 11 seasons.

* Until Welsh's arrival, the Cavaliers had made no bowl appearances. They have made nine since.

* In 28 seasons before Welsh, Virginia was 33-121-1 (.213) in the ACC and ended up fifth or better six times. Under Welsh, the Cavaliers are 69-43-3 (.613) and have finished fourth or better each of the past 11 years.

"I don't think George could possibly get enough credit for what he's done there," says former Wake Forest coach Al Groh, now linebackers coach with the Jets. "Besides the fact that there was a significant change in wins and losses, he didn't have any tradition of a positive nature to build on."

"I think it's nothing short of a miracle," says former Virginia athletic director Dick Schultz, who hired Welsh. "And he's one of a handful of coaches in the country who could have done that."

After serving as an assistant to Rip Engle and Paterno at Penn State for 11 years, Welsh landed his first head-coaching job in 1973, at Navy. Eighteen years earlier, he had been a star quarterback for the Midshipmen and finished third in the Heisman balloting. The Middies had won 28 games in the nine seasons before Welsh arrived, but finished 7-4 in his third year. In 1978, Navy made its first bowl appearance since 1963, Roger Staubach's senior season; it was the first of four consecutive winning seasons.