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ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : What will ACC and Virginia coaching legend George Welsh be most remembered for?
Virginia football might be on the verge of a true rebirth under Bronco Mendenhall. With so many ACC Coastal programs in a state of flux, 2019 could be a year in which Virginia wins the Coastal, perhaps in a manner similar to Pittsburgh in 2018. Virginia football is definitely in a better place compared to a year ago.
It is therefore fitting that UVA icon George Welsh lived long enough to see the Cavaliers improve before dying in the first week of 2019 at the age of 85. Welsh, an excellent coach at both Virginia and previously at Navy, enjoyed a long and richly productive career. He didn’t dominate college football, but he is the best coach Virginia ever had. He was also Navy’s best coach in the 30 years which preceded the arrival of another ACC legend who first came to Annapolis — Paul Johnson — at the start of the 21st century.
What will Welsh be most remembered for? Some will view his sparkling tenure through the prism of the 1995 upset of Florida State, the first time ANY ACC TEAM (!) had ever beaten Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles. FSU’s first season of ACC football was 1992. From 1992 through 1994, Florida State’s only (and rare) losses came to Miami and Notre Dame. Welsh was the first ACC coach to beat Bowden in a conference game.
Some will remember Welsh for going 8-6 head to head against Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech. Yes, there was a time when Virginia held its own against the Hokies. Check out this story by David Teel of the (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press on Welsh and Beamer.
Some will note that Virginia was once No. 1 in the national rankings, in early November of 1990, before Georgia Tech came back and beat the Hoos, 41-38, en route to the ACC title and a shared national championship with Colorado.
Others will recall that Virginia made the 1991 Sugar Bowl, an achievement which seems impossible to believe for younger fans.
Taken alone, any of those four achievements are tremendous. Welsh delivered all of them and did not have a losing season in his final 14 years in Charlottesville.
Ultimately, Welsh will be remembered for being a consistent winner who kept Virginia regularly competitive. Virginia wasn’t a regular nine-win program (in an era of 11-game regular seasons, not 12), so it’s not as though Welsh dramatically raised the ceiling for UVA football. His impact was felt more in terms of dramatically raising the floor for the Hoos. When you consider the fluctuations of the current ACC and realize how many programs have tumbled to a considerable extent from 2016 heights, Virginia’s rock-solid reliability for a decade and a half is a marvel.
If Welsh had the benefit of a 12-game regular season and the expanded bowl lineup when he coached at UVA, he might have taken Virginia to 14 straight bowls.
Think about that.
George Welsh’s legacy is more than one moment or achievement. The constancy with which he made Virginia football a force to be respected represents the overarching essence of his greatness.
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