DALLAS – Ithaca College football coach Mike Welch has been named to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Board of Trustees. Welch, who will serve as one of two Division III representatives to the board, replaces outgoing president Scot Dapp of Moravian. The announcement came at the AFCA’s annual convention, being held in Dallas.
A 1973 graduate of Ithaca, Welch has served as the Bombers’ head coach since 1994, posting a record of 97-35 (.735) with four trips to the NCAA playoffs. A running back who earned two letters while playing for coach Jim Butterfield (an AFCA trustee for seven years), Welch succeeded his former coach after spending 10 years as an assistant at his alma mater.
He has led the Bombers to postseason play in 8 of his 12 seasons, including an appearance in the 1994 NCAA semifinals and trips to the 2001 and 2003 NCAA quarterfinals. Welch was named College Sports Magazine Coach of the Year in 1994 when his 10 wins were the most by any first-year coach in college football. He was named Empire 8 Coach of the Year in 2003 and has led Ithaca to conference titles in all four seasons that the Empire 8 has sponsored football.
Welch and Iowa State University coach Dan McNarney join the AFCA’s 15-member Board of Trustees. The organization, which was founded in 1922, has over 10,000 members at the high school, college and professional levels.
Welch is one of six Ithaca graduates currently serving as head coach at a Division III school, along with Glenn Caruso ’96 (Macalester), Mike Donnelly ’75 (Muhlenberg), Bill George ’80 (U.S. Coast Guard Academy), Henny Hiemenz ’99 (Carroll) and Paul Shaffner ’82 (Buffalo State).
Welch is married to the former Susan Price, a 1973 Ithaca graduate who works in the department of gerontology. They have two children; Jessica, a 2003 Ithaca graduate, was an all-American lacrosse player, and Jeff, a student assistant coach with the Bombers who was an all-conference football and lacrosse player and captained both sports.
The Bombers posted a record of 8-3, winning the Empire 8 title (their fourth straight) with a 6-0 mark. Ithaca was selected for the NCAA playoffs for the 15th time. The program’s 34 straight winning seasons are the fourth-longest streak at any level of college football.
