Carlow University Department of Athletics appoints Walsh Head Track & Field Coach

PITTSBURGH --- The Carlow University Department of Athletics is excited to announce the hiring of Chadwick Walsh as the Head Coach of Men's and Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field.

Walsh has been the varsity track head coach at Highlands High School in Natrona Heights, Pa. since 2019 and was the long-time assistant coach with the program since 1992.

"We are very excited for Coach Chad Walsh to join the Carlow University Athletics family as our new Head Coach for Men's and Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field," Director of Athletics Lou Zadecky said. "Coach Chad's years of experience, training, enthusiasm and success in track & field played a key decision in bringing him aboard. His knowledge and relationship with area coaches will play a key role in building the program with our current team members and recruiting new members over the next several years. I couldn't be happier with the addition of Chad and look forward to the growth and success of the program."

After many years coaching high school, Walsh felt Carlow was the right opportunity to break into coaching at the collegiate level. He believes the campus and its mission are a nice fit and is excited for the chance to bring athletes on board.

"At the NCAA Division III level, student-athletes are competing because they love the sport," Walsh said. "They come to Carlow for the education, and competing on the team is an opportunity to help build something they can be proud of and look back on down the line. I want them to look back and say they had an enjoyable experience at Carlow, and hopefully they'll return after graduation knowing they will always be a part of Carlow's history and tradition."

Walsh is most looking forward to getting to know the current student-athletes and ramping up fall workouts leading up to the indoor season.

Walsh's first steps are to get acclimated with the team to gauge where athletes currently stand with their times and distances and to discuss some of their goals for the season.

"I want to work on improving times and distances this winter during indoor season and maybe get some more people excited to come out in the spring," Walsh said, with the hope current student-athletes will share their experiences with friends who may be interested in trying out for the team during the outdoor season.

Walsh coached various track & field events for 28 years. He's had successful programs at Highlands and coached 14 PIAA champions, 14 WPIAL champions and had over a dozen qualify for championships. Walsh also played an integral role in bolstering the middle school program.

As the head football coach at Valley High School, he helped turn a team that lost 22 straight games into a conference contender and playoff qualifier, with 14 all-conference players, two players of the year and numerous athletes sent to college. He has also run a USATF Junior Olympic club program which helped introduce track & field to numerous local athletes and provided them with a training program.

Additionally, Walsh developed a tutoring and study program to improve the grades of his student-athletes who were struggling academically. This program improved the grades of dozens of athletes at risk of failing one or more courses.

Any students interested in joining the track & field team can reach Coach Walsh at clwalsh5656@carlow.edu, or complete the RecruitMe form online.