St. Thomas Academy hires college assistant Travis Walch to lead football team

St. Thomas Academy announced Thursday it has hired Travis Walch, formerly an assistant coach at several Minnesota colleges, as its head football coach.

Walch has been an assistant coach at Winona State, Carleton, Macalester and St. Thomas. He owns Route Tree, a high school and college football consulting service, and is co-owner of Fastbreak Football, a training and recruiting advisory service for players. He is also the combine director for Prep RedZone, a website dedicated to coverage of high school football.

Walch was a Division II All-America running back at Winona State in 1997 and was inducted into the Warriors Hall of Fame in 2018. He played high school football at Plainview-Elgin-Millville.

"Travis is an experienced coach who brings immense knowledge and experience to this role," St. Thomas Academy athletics and activities director Reed Hornung said in a news release. "His passion for the game of football and developing young men is inspirational."

Said Walch, also in the news release: "Our family is grateful and excited for the opportunity to join the St. Thomas Academy community. … We can't wait to get started!"

Walch replaces Dan O'Brien, who left St. Thomas Academy in late January to accept the head coaching position at Holy Family in Victoria.

O'Brien will be joined at Holy Family by two prominent coaches who have won high school state championships, Dave Nelson (Blaine, Minnetonka) and Jeff Ferguson (Totino-Grace).