Canyon Coach Welch Announces Resignation

Harry Welch, a 12-year veteran football coach at Canyon High in Canyon Country best known for his two-year legal battle with the CIF, resigned Monday.

Welch, 48, said he was concerned about his health.

“I’ve loved what I’ve done,” he said. “I’d like to live long. But I know the way I coach that it’s all-consuming.”

Since 1982, Welch has been the San Fernando Valley area’s winningest active coach with a record of 120-31-2. The Cowboys won seven league titles and three Southern Section championships. Canyon tied a state record with a 46-game winning streak from 1983-86.

But Welch’s success has waned in recent years. His teams have not won a league title since 1989 and the Cowboys struggled with a 6-4 record last season, losing in the first round of the Division II playoffs.

In addition, several off-field incidents clouded the program. In two automobile accidents last fall, player Mike Pulliam was killed and Chuck Wade, coach of the B team, was paralyzed. Welch also got into a shoving match with a booster-club member after the Quartz Hill game, and several players left the team.

Last June, Welch settled a two-year legal battle with the CIF over alleged rules violations. The Southern Section had sought to impose a one-year suspension on him for allegedly holding an illegal practice in May of 1991. Welch took the CIF to court, and finally settled for an undisclosed sum.

No successor has been named.