Cris Welch

Cris Welch opens his third season as the head coach of the Yellowjackets with an appearance in the Wheat Bowl, which will be Graceland’s first bowl appearance since 1975. Welch improved Graceland’s record from 0-10 to 5-5 in his first season, then progressed to an 8-2 season and a nationally ranked team in 2005. On the verge of the 2005 season, Welch, a prominent recruiter for Boston College three years ago, has added more game-time players to his Yellowjacket roster, in hopes of winning the conference championship title while pursuing a national championship.

2004
Welch brought the Graceland University football team into the national spotlight on October 12, 2004, when the team broke into the NAIA Top 25 ranks, grabbing the 24th spot in the poll. Graceland jumped to the 22nd place on October 19 and November 2, then made their way up the standings to 21st on November 9 and 19th in the final poll. According to the post-season poll, Graceland was the 18th best team in the NAIA for the 2004 football season. The Jackets also finished the season tied for second in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.

Graceland’s offense was ranked second in total offense and pass offense and ninth in scoring offense in the NAIA. In the HAAC, the Jackets were the top team in pass offense (303.9 yards per game) and total offense (456.4 yards per game), and second in scoring offense (32.9 points per game).

Welch’s offense was lead by sophomore quarterback Clayton Braddock, who threw for 2920 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first year with Graceland. Braddock received numerous player of the week awards in 2004, including: five Don Hansen’s National Weekly Gazette picks, three Heart of America Athletic Conference awards, two NAIA national honors and one NAIAfootball.net selection. He was also a third team NAIAFootball.net All-American.

Senior wide receiver Dante Johnson was a Don Hansen’s Gazette preseason all-American, and following the season, collected honorable mention all-American, second team Don Hansen’s Gazette all-American and fourth team NAIAfootball.net all-American awards. NAIAfootball.net selected Johnson’s fellow senior receiver Anthony Rozier as an honorable mention all-American.

Welch’s 2004 special teams were led by junior punter Anthony Posteraro, who was selected as the 31st overall pick in the Canadian College Football Draft by the Edmonton Eskimos. Posteraro was selected as a Don Hansen’s Weekly Football Gazette national player of the week, and was Graceland’s special teams most valuable player in 2004, averaging 40 yards per punt, his longest being a 66-yard boot.

Graceland’s football team was well-represented on the Heart of America all-conference team in 2004, with four first team selections, including Johnson’s wide receiver and kick return picks, along with Braddock and Rozier’s awards. Three athletes were chosen for the HAAC second team – Rufus Williams (OL), Anthony Posteraro (P/K) and Eric Boatwright (TE) – and three were third team picks – Ron Strozyk (DL), Craig Hidy (LB) and Julius Strong (RB). The HAAC honorable mention team included Anthony Ferguson, James Williams, Manny Espinoza, Michael Richardson, Reggie Cox and Tony Ingram.

Welch boasts four players who have been recognized as NAIA, Region V and HAAC scholar-athletes: Brent DeLong, Craig Hidy, Joshua Good and Tony Ingram.

2003
In 2003, Welch returned to the sideline as the head coach for the Yellowjackets after a two and a half year stint as the assistant recruiting coordinator at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. When Cris Welch took his position at the helm of the Graceland football team in 2003, he looked to transform a struggling Yellowjacket squad to the type of team he once played for in the early 1990s. A true motivator, Welch brought with him the hard-working, dedicated and disciplined characteristics of a Division I football team to a small NAIA school in Iowa.

In his first season with the Yellowjackets, Welch led the team to a 5-5 record with seven all-conference players, one NAIA All-American and two Don Hansen’s All-Americans. Three Graceland athletes were awarded Heart of America Conference Player of the Week, and one Jacket was named National Player of the Week by Don Hansen and by NAIAfootball.net. Welch also had two NAIA All-American Scholar-Athletes, three Region V Scholar-Athletes and three all-conference scholars.

Prior to Graceland
While at Boston College, Welch was instrumental in the successful recruitment of the nationally ranked 2001 and 2002 recruiting classes, including BC’s only USA Today First Team All-American. He also developed highly successful recruiting strategies and objectives for the Division I/Big East football program.

Prior to his recruiting position at BC, Welch coached football at Graceland, serving five years as the offensive line coach, three years as the defensive line coach and five years as the junior varsity head coach. The Yukon, Okla., native also recruited nation-wide for the Yellowjackets at the high school and junior college levels.

Welch additionally focused his recruiting talents on building a diverse student body at Graceland as an Admissions Field Officer for six years. His experience includes serving students and parents of scholars as the program advisor for the Life Skills mentoring program. This appointment allowed Welch to develop and implement a new federally funded mentoring program to support the success of at-risk high school students using current college students.

Playing Experience
The Graceland Experience began in 1988 for Welch, as the center for the Yellowjacket football team. The 1987 Yukon High School graduate started every single game of his collegiate career and was named a team captain both his junior and senior years at Graceland.

Education
Welch graduated from Graceland University in 1992 with a B.A. in Business Administration. He graduated from Yukon High School in Yukon, Okla., in 1988.

Honors
ESPN’s recruiting analyst Tom Lemming recognized Welch’s staff at Boston College as one of the best and most dangerous behind-the-scenes recruiting staffs in the country.

Personal
Cris and his wife Kerry (Logan, GU ’91) have two children Jordan, 10, and Conner, 6. In his spare time, Welch enjoys golf, reading and salt water marine fish.