CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Citadel Athletics has elevated Luke Welch to the position of Interim head coach of the Bulldogs' wrestling program, per an official release from the department Friday. Welch takes the helm from Ryan LeBlanc, who recently departed for the same role at Binghamton University.

"I can't thank Art Chase and Rachel Fineberg enough for the opportunity to lead this team in the 2025-2026 season," Welch said. "I am extremely grateful and excited to be the Interim Head Coach here at The Citadel. After five seasons being under Coach LeBlanc as an Assistant coach and Associate Head coach, I look forward to the challenges I will face and the opportunity to grow as a coach. The team is excited to get to work and I have high expectations for them both on the mat and in the classroom."

Welch, a graduate of Purdue, joined LeBlanc at The Citadel when the latter took the head coaching position prior to the 2020-21 campaign. Since then, the duo has overseen eight NCAA Wrestling Championship qualifiers -- Michael McAleavy (2021 & 2022), Dazjon Casto (2022), Jeff Boyd (2024), Gylon Sims (2025), Carson DesRosier (2025), Thomas Snipes (2025) & Patrick Brophy (2025) -- along with five Southern Conference individual champions and a total 41 victories across five seasons of action.

"Over the past five seasons, Luke Welch has played an integral role in the growth of Citadel Wrestling in all facets — on the mat, in the classroom, in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets and in the greater Charleston community," Director of Athletics Art Chase said. "We are extremely excited for him to have this opportunity to lead our program with the same core values which have yielded tremendous success over the past half-decade."

Throughout a banner 2024-25 campaign, The Citadel compiled a 10-4 overall record -- marking back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the program -- en route to a second overall finish at the Southern Conference Championship, coming up just one victory short (285 lb championship) of securing the team title. Individually, the Bulldogs claimed three individual SoCon titles via way of Sims (125 lbs), DesRosier (149 lbs) and Snipes (165 lbs) while Brophy (197 lbs) and John Chesser (285 lbs) locked down silver medals within their weight classes as well.

Notably, Snipes, who upset the SoCon Wrestler of the Year in the 165 lb championship, scored the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler honors while LeBlanc was named the league's Coach of the Year. Following the season, six wrestlers – Brophy, DesRosier, Snipes, Tyler Badgett, Micah DiCarlo & Thomas Termini – were all named NWCA DI Scholar All-Americans while The Citadel finished as an NWCA Scholar All-American team, ranking 13th nationally and second within the conference.