Welsh liked the state of Virginia, had mined some of its high school talent while in Annapolis, and knew there were good football players around the Commonwealth.

“This was a major change in culture compared to what I went through at Navy,” Welsh said. “I think [Virginia] was so used to losing, and they didn’t know how to practice at all, and they didn’t buy into the program until the second spring, when the captains came to me and said they wanted to win and would do whatever we wanted. That helped [turn] the program around.”

The Cavaliers won six games Welsh’s second year and the program was off and running, beating Big Ten runner-up Purdue in the Peach Bowl in his third season.

“It was tougher to get Virginia turned around than Navy,” Welsh said. “That first year, I said, ‘My God, did I make a mistake?’”

UVa went 2-9 in 1982, ironically losing to Navy, then losing to James Madison. The two wins came against Wake Forest and VMI.

If you’re wondering if new Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, who took BYU to 11 consecutive bowl games, might be asking himself the same question Welsh did about coming to Charlottesville, Welsh thinks not.