The Citadel Athletics

 Luke Welch was named the assistant wrestling coach at The Citadel on Oct. 13, 2020 and received a promotion to Associate Head Coach on July 5, 2024. Following the departure of Ryan LeBlanc, Welch earned a second elevation to Interim Head Coach on Sept. 5, 2025.
 
Working under head coach Ryan LeBlanc since the start, Welch has helped build the program from the ground up, leveraging an initial losing mark at 4-6 (3-5 SoCon) in 2020-21 into a winning record at 6-5 (4-3 SoCon) just a season later, steadily pushing to 7-5 in 2022-23 before assisting the Bulldogs to a program-best 14 victories along with a 6-2 record in league play for the 2023-24 campaign, notably contributing as The Citadel topped Southern Conference mainstay Chattanooga for the first time in two decades along the way.

Additionally, four wrestlers have managed to reach the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships with Welch on staff, including Michael McAleavey for the 2021 season, both McAleavey and Dazjon Casto in 2022 and graduate transfer Jeff Boyd for 2024. At the SoCon Championships, both McAleavey (285 lbs) in 2021 and Casto (157 lbs) in 2022 locked in gold-medal performances for their respective weight classes as well.
 
Welch joined the Bulldogs after spending the 2019 season as the assistant wrestling coach at the University of Mount Olive. He served as the recruiting coordinator in the Trojans’ inaugural season.
 
In that first season, Welch helped guide two wrestlers to the NCAA Division II tournament. The roster also had four wrestlers earn NWCA Scholar All-American honors, while ranking fourth nationally in community service.
 
Welch joined the Trojan staff after spending one year as the assistant wrestling coach at Castle High School. He coached two wrestlers to fourth and sixth place finishes at the IHSAA state meet.
 
He wrestled collegiately at Purdue where he compiled a 93-64 career record at 125 and 133 pounds. He was the 2017 USA Wrestling University Nationals 57 kg national champion, a two-time USA Wrestling University Nationals All-American (2015, 2017), a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection (2015, 2018), and ranks 18th on Purdue's career takedowns list (227).
 
In his final season with the Boilermakers, Welch went 32-11 and qualified for the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships. He won his opening round match before falling to No.3 Spencer Lee of Iowa in the second round. He continued on in the wrestle backs winning a pair of matches before falling one round shy of the All-American rounds.
 
Welch graduated from Purdue in 2018 with a degree in social studies education. He also minored in politics, history and human rights. Additionally, he earned his Master of Science in Nutrition and Human Performance with a concentration in Sports Performance from Logan University.
 
For more information on The Citadel wrestling team, please visit CitadelSports.com or follow @CitadelWrestle on Twitter and Instagram, and @CitadelWrestling on Facebook.