George Welsh (American football)

George Welsh (born August 26, 1933) is a former American college football coach. Over the course of a 28-year career was the head coach at the United States Naval Academy and the University of Virginia.

Welsh was born in Coaldale, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956 where he was an All-American quarterback. After serving as an assistant coach under Rip Engle and Joe Paterno at Penn State from 1963 to 1972, Welsh began his head coaching career at his alma mater in 1973. He inherited a program that had only had one winning season since 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 school's winningest coach.

In 1982, Welsh left Navy to become coach at Virginia. He walked into a situation even worse than the one he'd inherited at Navy. Prior to his arrival, Virginia had only two winning seasons in the previous 29 years and had never been to a bowl game. The Cavaliers had also only notched one winning record in Atlantic Coast Conference 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 conference record 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 notched 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 league. He retired after the 2000 season due to health concerns.

In 19 years at the helm, he became the winningest coach in school and Atlantic Coast Conference history. He was surpassed by Bobby Bowden of Florida State, but remains far and away the winningest coach in Virginia history (his 139 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 one time (1991).

Upon his retirement after the 2000 season, his 189 career victories ranked him 24th in Division I-A history. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004.