Born in Valparaiso, IN, Shawn Weltzin grew up in Alabama. While In high school, he ran track and earned All-State cross-country his freshman year. After being cut from the basketball team Coach Bob Parker got Shawn to try wrestling. Shawn qualified for the State Tournament in his junior and senior years. Shawn graduated from Pelham High School in 1997 and started coaching with Coach Parker in 1998 at Pelham HS and Riverchase MS.

In 2002, Shawn left Alabama to wrestle at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. While at UTC, he worked as a student assistant to Olympic bronze medalist Terry Brands. At the start of his senior year, Shawn married his wife Jennifer, who helped and supported him to graduate in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in EHLS: Kinesiology - Exercise Science.

After Graduation, Shawn and Jennifer moved to Alabama so he could work for the Alabaster Youth Wrestling Association (AYWA). In 2007 Shawn started the wrestling program at Thompson Middle School. In 2008, Shawn started the wrestling program at Thompson High School.

Since 2008, the Boys program at Thompson HS has won 10 Traditional State Titles (2011-2015, 2018-2020, 2022, 2025), placed 2nd four times (2021, 2023-2025), 3rd twice (2016-2017) and 4th (2010).  The Boys program has also won 5 Dual Team State Championships (2019-2022, 2026).

In 2020, Shawn served on the Task Force to start a Girls wrestling division in the State of Alabama. In 2021, he and Thompson HS started Hosting the Girls Wrestling State Championship as an AHSAA emerging sport.

In the 2024-2025 Season, Thompson HS won both the Boys State Tournament and the first AHSAA sanctioned Girls State Tournament. The 2025 State Tournaments also produced the first ever brother/sister State Wrestling Champions in Alabama when Jordan Weltzin and Lynleigh Weltzin both won individual state titles.

Since 2008, Thompson HS has had 212 State Qualifiers for both the boys and girls programs.  Of those 212 State Qualifiers, 139 boys and 30 girls placed at the state tournaments, with 56 boys and 7 girls winning State Championships. So far, 44 Thompson HS wrestlers have continued to the next level.

Shawn is currently the State Representative of Alabama for the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) and has been since 2013. From 2017-2023, Shawn served on the NWCA Board of Directors as a Scholastic Representative. From 2015-2024, Shawn served on the AHSAA Wrestling Coaches Committee as the District 5 Representative. In 2014, Shawn was able to travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan with the US National team with the Apprentice coach program for the World Championships.

Shawn lives in Alabaster, AL and has been married to Jennifer Weltzin since 2004. He has a son, Jordan (19) and two daughters Lynleigh Brooke (18) and Olivia Joy (13).