May 29, 2013
By Rachel Ziebell ’14
“There was never a day when there wasn’t a game going on in our yard,” Carson Walch ’01 says about growing up in nearby Elgin, Minnesota. And the games have never stopped for Carson and older brother, Travis ’98/’03. After stellar football careers at Winona State, both have stayed on the field as highly successful football coaches.
Travis and Carson started their coaching careers at their alma mater, when Warriors’ head coach Tom Sawyer ’84 noted not only their talent for football, but also their passion for the game. In the ever-changing coaching world, both left WSU to pursue other coaching opportunities around the Midwest.
In 2008 their paths diverged. Travis landed at the highly successful NCAA Division III football program at the University of St. Thomas as special teams coordinator and receivers coach. The Tommies were runners-up in the Division III championship game and won a record 14 games last fall.
Carson returned to Winona State for a year as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator before taking a shot at professional football, first with the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. Over the winter, he followed the Alouettes’ head coach to the NFL and one of its most storied franchises, the Chicago Bears. He’ll begin his first season in charge of offensive quality control for the Bears.
Despite coaching at different levels, Travis and Carson talk football every week, trading plays and figuring out ways to attack zone pass coverage. And they have remarkably similar things to say about why they step out on the field every day: teaching and learning from highly motivated athletes, the camaraderie and team atmosphere, being part of the game they both love.
The games are still going on in the Walches’ yard.
