Welch's assistant, Stafford H. Cassell, was named Welch's successor as AD on February 27, 1939. Cassell was an AU graduate who had played football, basketball, and baseball at the university in the early 1930s, and he was considered a star basketball player. He was named men's basketball coach in 1937. Because of the outbreak of World War II, AU dropped football after the 1941 season. Subsequently, Cassell resigned in March 1942 to become Athletic Director and head football coach at Morningside College in Iowa. He departed AU in June.