October 24, 2014
Legacy of collegiate coaching excellence has new twist for Welsh ’66
BY BRENDAN McGAIR ’03
During his undergraduate days at Providence College, Tim Welsh ’66 acquired a strong sense of duty and understanding about the importance of commitment. Those values haven’t wavered during nearly four decades as a collegiate swimming coach.
“One of the things that was made clear to us was to be proud of who you represent,” said Welsh, who has served as the head coach at the University of Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins University. “When I was a student at Providence, I was very proud of the school.”
Welsh’s Friar-based foundation included extracurricular activities such as The Cowl, the Friars Club, and the Pep Band. He also volunteered with the Big Brothers organization.
“That opened my eyes to the value of how much giving back mattered,” Welsh said.
From a scholastic vantage point, Welsh said his greatest satisfaction at PC was taking part in the Liberal Arts Honors Program for four “fulfilling” semesters.
“We learned how to accept, listen to, and be prepared to generate new ideas,” he said. “As most people do, I grew up in college and credit a lot of who I have become to what happened while I was at Providence.”
Initially, the 2013-14 college swim season was to have been Welsh’s last hurrah as a coach. One of the most respected swimming coaches in the nation, he had announced his retirement after spending 38 years poolside, the last 29 years as the head men’s swimming and diving coach at Notre Dame.
“When we leave the Notre Dame campus, we recognize that we are proud to represent the school. I got the first sense of that back in the day when I was at Providence,” he said.
However, in September, Welsh put retirement on hold and accepted the assignment of coaching Notre Dame’s women’s swimming and diving team on an interim basis. He expects the 2014-15 campaign to officially serve as his grand finale.
“Notre Dame gave us a trip as a retirement gift so we’re looking forward to taking that next fall,” Welsh said. “My wife has asked if I’ll be ready to retire when this season ends. I said, ‘Yes, my dear.’”
The continuation of a coaching career that’s been a source of great joy will enable Welsh to add to his lengthy string of success. Since he arrived in South Bend, Ind., in 1985, his men’s teams have posted a 326-179-1 dual-meet record while capturing 22 league titles, including six in the BIG EAST Conference. (The Irish joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013.) His swimmers individually have received 34 invitations to the NCAA championships and earned All-America honors 12 times.
Elite honor for sport’s contributions
As a sign of his influence in the sport, Welsh was presented with the National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy at the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s (CSCAA) annual banquet in May. The highest award of its kind in the United States, it honors an individual or organization for outstanding contributions to swimming as a competitive sport and as a healthy recreational activity at schools and colleges.
“Very, very over the top. It’s one of the ultimate awards in college swimming, and it was an extremely humbling and wonderful honor to receive,” he said. “It’s voted upon, so it makes it even more valuable. I was just touched to the bottom of my heart.”
Welsh graduated magna cum laude from PC, then earned his master’s degree at the University of Virginia in 1967. His first foray into coaching college swimming came in 1974 as an assistant at Syracuse. Four years later, he became the head men’s and women’s coach at Johns Hopkins University. The highlight of his eight-year tenure at the Maryland-based school came when he guided the Blue Jays to NCAA Division III championships in 1978 and 1979.
At Notre Dame, Welsh learned how to do more with less. After 17 years with very little scholarship aid, the Irish’s men’s swimming program became fully funded in 2002. He subsequently guided his swimmers to greater success, leading Notre Dame to its first BIG EAST title in 2005 and to conference titles in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013.
Welsh also tasted success as Notre Dame’s women’s coach from 1985 to 1995. The Irish posted a 93-50-1 dual meet record during that time and won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Championship from 1987 to 1995. Under his guidance, 11 women earned berths in the NCAA championships, including three-time All-American Tanya Williams.
As potent as his teams have been in the pool, Welsh has ensured that their academic performance was equally as strong. A fixture on the CSCAA Scholar All-America list — which ranks teams according to grade-point average — the Irish claimed the top spot in 1999 and have finished in the top 10 eight times since 1990.
The program was honored in 2009 with the BIG EAST Team Excellence Award, which recognizes the highest collective GPAs in each conference sport. That year’s team finished with a 3.27 grade index.
“I believe so strongly in the educational value of what we do as coaches that I am convinced that it is incumbent upon us to speak to the education our students receive as athletes whenever we get a chance to speak in public,” Welsh stated upon accepting his honor from the CSCAA.
Welsh and his wife, Jacqueline, are parents of two sons — Tim, a 2002 Notre Dame graduate, and John, a 2005 Notre Dame graduate.
Brendan McGair ’03 is a freelance writer from Cranston, R.I.
