Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant Athletic Director - Athletic Academic Services & Student-Athlete Engagement
Sport Supervisor: Lacrosse
Academic Sports: Soccer, Swimming & Diving, Women's Basketball, Volleyball
- Email:
- Phone:
- (330) 941-3127
Brian E. Welch serves as the Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Academic Services and Student-Athlete Engagement at Youngstown State University, a role he assumed in September 2024 after joining the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics as an Athletic Academic Coordinator in February 2024. He also serves as the sport supervisor for the Youngstown State women's lacrosse program.
In his current role, Welch oversees all athletic academic services and student-athlete development programming for YSU Athletics. He provides academic support oversight for the volleyball, women's basketball, men's and women's swimming & diving, and men's golf programs while leading department-wide initiatives designed to foster student-athlete success in the classroom, in competition, and beyond graduation. Driven by a "Culture of Care" philosophy, his work focuses on educating, motivating, and elevating student-athletes to become the best versions of themselves academically, personally, professionally, and as leaders.
Welch designed and launched the Penguin Path Towards Your Future Program, a comprehensive student-athlete development initiative that now serves every YSU student-athlete. He also created the Student-Athlete Leadership Development Academy, a year-long leadership program culminating in a Shark Tank-style capstone competition where participants develop and present solutions to real-world challenges facing student-athletes and higher education. Under his leadership, YSU Athletics has earned national recognition from Bridge Athletics, which identified Youngstown State as one of its premier platform partners nationwide and highlighted the department's holistic approach to student-athlete education and development as a model for other institutions.
His leadership has contributed to unprecedented academic success within the department. During his tenure, YSU Athletics achieved the highest cumulative athletic department GPA in school history and recorded back-to-back semesters ranked first among all NCAA Division I institutions in Ohio for academic performance.
For his contributions to student-athlete success and departmental excellence, Welch was named Youngstown State Athletics Administrator of the Year for 2025-26. He is a graduate of the inaugural National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A) Executive Leadership Summit and currently participates in the prestigious NACDA Senior Administrators Mentoring Institute.
A nationally engaged leader in student-athlete development, Welch serves on multiple N4A committees and remains actively involved with NCAA Leadership Development initiatives. He has served as a facilitator for the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, is a graduate of the NCAA's Effective Facilitation Workshop, and is a certified DiSC® facilitator.
Prior to joining Youngstown State, Welch held Assistant Athletic Director positions at both Valparaiso University and Lake Erie College. In 2021, he served as Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Support and Student Services at Valparaiso University, and from 2021-22 he was Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance at Lake Erie College.
Beyond athletic administration, Welch possesses an extensive coaching background in lacrosse. He served as head men's lacrosse coach at Division III Hiram College in 2023 and remains the all-time winningest lacrosse coach at Marian High School (Indiana), Ancilla College (NJCAA), and Concordia University Chicago (NCAA Division III).
Before his tenure at Concordia Chicago, Welch worked at Ancilla College in Donaldson, Indiana, where he served in multiple leadership roles including Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Associate Dean of Student Success and Retention, Athletic Academic Intervention Specialist, and Head Men's Lacrosse Coach. In those roles, he oversaw athletic advising, tutoring, and academic support services while designing and implementing intervention and retention programs supporting more than 18 varsity athletic teams.
Welch earned a bachelor's degree in Communication and Broadcast Journalism from the University of Notre Dame and a master's degree in Higher Education and Sport Administration from Ohio University.
