Welch to Discuss Retirement With Canyon Principal

Canyon High football Coach Harry Welch will meet with Principal Bill White later this week to discuss Welch’s pending retirement from coaching.

“He and I will talk to make sure that this is what he wants to do,” White said. “We don’t really have a timetable. He just needs some time to relax.”

Welch announced his retirement Sept. 6, the day before the Hart-Canyon game, citing his desire for a lighter teaching load. Welch said that he no longer was willing to teach four English classes and coach football full-time.

“I’m ready (to retire),” Welch, 45, said. “Right now, I have no plans of ever coaching again. For me to stay, they would have to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and that’s not going to happen.”

Welch indicated that he would continue to coach if his schedule was changed to mirror that of a student-body director who teaches one class in addition to heading extracurricular activities.

Canyon’s season ended last week with a 10-3 loss to Loyola in the Southern Section Division I semifinals. Welch posted a 100-19-1 record in nine years and took his team to the semifinals eight consecutive years. Canyon won Southern Section titles in 1983, 1984 and 1985 and posted a 46-game winning streak.