Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990                   TAG: 9003300115
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WELSH SIGNS 8-YEAR DEAL WITH VIRGINIA

"My third career is on hold," said Welsh, who considers a seven-year hitch in the Navy to have been his first career. "I don't know what else I can do."

Welsh, 56, said he intends to coach "at least" another four or five years after signing an eight-year contract at a base salary of $120,000. The contract ensures him an administrative position if he decides to leave coaching before the end of the deal.

The new contract replaces the 10-year deal Welsh signed after the 1984 season. The old contract's first five years, which required Welsh to coach, ended Dec. 31 on the eve of UVa's game against Illinois in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Welsh has continued to work under a handshake agreement.

"The [new] contract calls for him to serve as head football coach or as an administrator in our athletic department for the next eight years," said Jim Copeland, the school's athletic director. "It also includes incentives for him to remain as head coach."

Welsh said the length of his contract was not necessarily related to his age. He would be 64 when the deal runs out.

"Why eight years?" he asked. "That's long enough. It's possible I'll coach that long, but that's too long to think about now."

Welsh previously received a base salary of $95,000. "I thought I was pretty well compensated before," he said. "I'm not in the top two or three [in the country], but money was not a big issue."

Welsh said any delays in reaching the agreement were caused by the wording of the contract.

"Most of it was done in December," he said. "We started talking about it in the summer, but then I went on vacation. Then, we talked again in October, but the season was going on."

Welsh, who has won more games than any Virginia football coach, has a 50-40-2 record in eight years at the school. He took the Cavaliers to a bowl game for the first time when they played in the Peach Bowl in 1984, and they also participated in postseason play after the 1987 and '89 seasons.

Virginia gained a share of its first ACC championship in 1989, when the Cavaliers also set a school record for victories by going 10-3. They were ranked 18th in the final Associated Press poll after a 31-21 loss to Illinois in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Copeland said he realized there was a problem with the timing of the announcement, which precedes by one day Virginia's participation in the women's basketball Final Four. Also, Virginia is in the process of hiring a new men's basketball coach.

"It's been in the works for a year," Copeland said of Welsh's new contract. "There has been a continuing interest in [Welsh's contract] by the media and, since the contract had been signed, we didn't think we could hold off the announcement any longer.

"I don't think there was an ideal time to announce this. With the success of our men's basketball team, we didn't want it to detract from the tributes being paid Terry [Holland] in his final year. After today, hopefully, the attention can be focused on our women's team and then the new men's coach."