Dr. Jack Welch enters his fifth season serving as the special teams coordinator, chief of staff, and camp director for the Lions.
During his tenure with the Lions, Welch’s special team units have consistently been a leader in conference statistics. Many players have received honors including Dominique Ramsey, tabbed as an All-American and All-Lone Star Conference returner. Others include Wyatt Leath (lone snapper), Andrew Gomez (punter), Jake Viquez (kicker), Emmanuel Adagbon (kicker), and B.J. Busbee (returner). Antonio Leali’e’e received first team All-LSC Running Back honors in 2021, while Welch was the running backs coach as well.
Welch has had an extensive coaching career serving both in the collegiate and high school ranks. He retired as the all-time winningest coach at Copperas Cove High School, recording a stellar 193-84-1 record in 24 years. He is in the top 100 winning head coaches in the history of Texas High School Football. He was selected as the 1998 Texas Coach of the Year. Welch led the Bulldawgs to the state playoffs 18 times, won 7 district, 10 bi-district, 5 area, 4 regional, 3 quarterfinal, and 2 state semi-final championships. During his tenure, the ‘Dawgs had 15 players go to the NFL/CFL/XFL, including Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, and an NFL Man of the Year Charles “Peanut” Tillman.
Welch has served as a head collegiate coach at Kansas Wesleyan and Ft. Scott Community College. At KWU, Welch was the youngest head football coach in America at 27 years of age. He inherited the nation’s longest collegiate losing streak and constructed a complete turnaround with a winning season in only his second year. At Ft. Scott Community College, he led the Greyhounds to five consecutive winning seasons, three consecutive bowl games and a regular season conference championship.
Welch also had stints as an NCAA Division I assistant coach, serving as Offensive and Special Teams Coordinator at West Texas State and Special Teams Coordinator/Tight End Coach at Louisiana Tech.
Welch was a multi-sport collegiate letterman (football, baseball and track and field). He is one of the all-time top ten javelin throwers in Taylor University history. Welch led the Trojan football team his senior season in rushing and total offense. He received All-Conference honors as a fullback and was named to the TU Athletic Hall of Fame (2013). He was offered a free agency contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Welch was a high school multi-sport letterman receiving unanimous All-District and All-State honors at Bridgeport High School in baseball. He received a professional try-out with the Texas Rangers, making the last cut but chose to attend college. He was the runner-up Texas Champion in the light heavy weight boxing division of the Texas Golden Gloves. His junior season, he played fullback on the state champion Osawatomie, Kansas Trojan football team.
Welch received a Doctorate Degree from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (2013), Master’s Degree from West Texas State (1983), and Bachelor’s Degree from Taylor University (1980).
Welch is married to his high school sweetheart, Carol “Suzie” Welch, and has two sons, Josh and Steven. He has two brothers. Tracy Welch, currently the director of operations for the football program and Gary, who served as an assistant coach (Linebackers) under Jack at both FSCC and KWU.
Seasonal History
2019-Present: Special Teams Coordinator/Chief of Staff - A&M-Commerce
1994-2017: Athletic Director/Head Football Coach - Copperas Cove High School
1993: Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends - Louisiana Tech University
1987-1992: Athletic Director/Head Football Coach - Ft. Scott Community College
1985-86: Head Football Coach - Kansas Wesleyan University
1982-84: Offensive/Special Teams Coordinator - West Texas State University
1981 Athletic Director/Head Football Coach - Santo High School
1980: Graduate Assistant - West Texas State University
