For media inquiries, please contact Jared MacDonald at jared.macdonald@wku.edu.
Tyson Helton was named Western Kentucky University’s 21st head football coach on November 27, 2018. The 2025 campaign will mark his seventh season at the helm of the Hilltopper program after producing a 48-32 mark (including 34-13 in CUSA play), reaching six bowl games and earning a spot in two Conference USA Championship Games in his first six years.
Under Helton, the Hilltoppers have been one of just 11 teams in the country that played in a bowl game or College Football Playoff game in each of the last six seasons. WKU won four of those games – the 2019 SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, the 2021 RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, the 2022 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the 2023 Famous Toastery Bowl – and was one of just seven programs to win a bowl game each season between 2021-23.
Helton's program has consistently produced NFL talent during his tenure. The Hilltoppers have now had five players selected in the last four NFL Drafts. That includes a player selected in the third round in each of the last four NFL Drafts. WKU is the only non-Power Conference program to have a player drafted within the first three rounds in each of the last four NFL Drafts. DeAngelo Malone was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the third round of the 2022 Draft and Bailey Zappe was picked in the fourth round that year by the New England Patriots, while Brodric Martin was taken by the Detroit Lions in the third round in 2023, Malachi Corley was picked by the New York Jets in the third round in 2024 and Upton Stout was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Beyond those five, WKU has seen several players go undrafted and produce successful professional careers since Helton's arrival.
In the 2024 season, after losing the player with the most receptions in program history – Corley – and CUSA's passing leader for back-to-back seasons – Austin Reed – among others from the 2023 roster, Helton coached the Hilltoppers to an 8-6 overall record and berths in both the CUSA Championship Game and the Boca Raton Bowl.
Helton led his team to an 8-5 record and a fifth consecutive bowl game during the 2023 season. The Hilltoppers rallied from a 28-0 deficit to defeat Old Dominion 38-35 in overtime in the Famous Toastery Bowl, marking the fourth-largest comeback ever in a bowl game.
His program faced a lot of uncertainty heading into the 2022 campaign after losing record-setting quarterback Bailey Zappe along with both coordinators, but Helton added the right pieces to put the Hilltoppers back together and produced another 9-5 season. Transfer quarterback Austin Reed led the nation in passing yards offensively while Helton’s defense led college football in forced turnovers. The team’s success throughout the regular season culminated in an appearance at the 2022 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl where the Tops defeated a 10-win South Alabama team, 44-23.
The 2021 season was arguably Helton’s best on The Hill as the Tops strung together a 9-4 record that featured a C-USA East Division Title and a victory over App State in the Boca Raton Bowl. Helton also led the WKU offense to a historic season that saw quarterback Bailey Zappe set new NCAA record in passing yards and touchdowns in a single season. At year’s end, Zappe was drafted by the New England Patriots, joining defensive end DeAngelo Malone who was drafted by his hometown Atlanta Falcons.
WKU finished the 2020 campaign with a 5-7 overall record, including a 39-21 loss to Georgia State in the 22nd Annual LendingTree Bowl. The Hilltoppers were only 1-of-16 college football teams in the nation to play in 12 or more games during the COVID-19-affected year.
In his first season as head coach at WKU, Helton led the Hilltoppers to one of the best turnarounds in the nation. With a 9-4 overall record in 2019, WKU tripled its 2018 win total (3-9) and matched the number of victories from the previous two years combined (9-16).
The Hilltoppers' six-win improvement from 2018-to-2019 tied for the third-best in FBS, behind only Navy (8) and Central Michigan (7). WKU was voted to finish fifth in the East in the preseason Conference USA poll, but concluded the year tied for second with a 6-2 league record.
Because of the team's success, Helton was voted 2019 C-USA Coach of the Year, the first Hilltopper head coach since Jack Harbaugh was the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2000. It was only the sixth conference Coach of the Year honor in program history, with the previously-mentioned Harbaugh, Jimmy Feix (1973, 1978 and 1980) and Nick Denes (1963) as the only other WKU head coaches to earn the recognition.
Tyson and his father Kim (at Houston in 1996 – with Tyson on the team as a freshman), are the only father-son duo to each be named Coach of the Year in C-USA's 25-year history in any sport. The Heltons are the first father-son duo to each be named Coach of the Year in any FBS league since the Bowdens – Tommy (Clemson in 2003) and Bobby (Florida State in 1993 and 1997) – in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Helton returned to WKU three years removed from the 2015 football season which ended with the Hilltoppers' final Associated Press ranking of 24 – the highest in school history – and a school-record 12 victories, including the first-ever FBS conference championship. Helton’s previous tenure coincided with quarterback Brandon Doughty’s astronomical ascension up the NCAA’s career record book and total rewriting of the program’s own offensive records.
During his three years away from the program, Helton spent two seasons at the University of Southern California as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach Clay Helton. Helton developed quarterback Sam Darnold into an All-Pac-12 First Team quarterback and the No. 3 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New York Jets.
In that same draft class, another of Helton’s protégés, WKU’s Mike White, was also selected in the fifth round by the Dallas Cowboys.
Immediately prior to his return to The Hill as head coach, Helton was Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s first hire on his initial coaching staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2018. In just one season in Knoxville, Helton developed quarterback Jarrett Guarantano into one of the Southeastern Conference’s most formidable signal callers. The redshirt sophomore followed an up-and-down freshman campaign by becoming the No. 5 ranked SEC quarterback in passing efficiency (147.8) and completion percentage (64.5). His 144 consecutive pass attempts without an interception set a new school record, and he enjoyed new career highs for completions (27), attempts (39), passing touchdowns (2), and passing yards (328) under Helton’s tutelage.
Helton was WKU’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2014 and 2015 under then-head coach Jeff Brohm. WKU’s offensive numbers ranked among the nation’s elite during Helton’s two years on the staff and featured the first-ever 4,500-yard passer (Brandon Doughty) and 1,500-yard rusher (Leon Allen) in the same season in FBS history in 2014.
WKU broke more than two dozen school offensive records under Helton, including the points scored record in each of his two years. The Hilltopper offense was in the national Top 10 in 2015 in passing efficiency (1st, 177.4), scoring (3rd, 44.3), passing (4th, 372.2), first downs (8th, 349) and total yards (9th, 526.4).
In 2014, WKU became the first NCAA program with a 4,500-yard passer and 1,500-yard rusher while winning the Bahamas Bowl to finish 8-4. That season, they were second nationally in passing (374.3), fourth in total offense (534.6) and sixth in scoring offense (44.4) and first downs (351).
Helton was among four finalists for the 2015 FootballScoop.com Offensive Coordinator of the Year Award. He coached quarterback Brandon Doughty to back-to-back Conference USA MVP honors as he threw 97 touchdown passes in 2014 and 2015 (the most in NCAA history in consecutive seasons). Doughty led the nation in 2015 in completion percentage (71.9), passing touchdowns (48), passing yards (5,055) and points responsible for (304) while ranking second in passing efficiency (176.5). That came off a 2014 campaign in which he threw for national bests of 4,830 yards and 49 TDs while winning the Sammy Baugh Award from the Touchdown Club of Columbus as the nation’s top quarterback. Wide receiver Taywan Taylor ranked second in the nation in 2015 in receiving touchdowns (17) and was third in receiving yards (1,467), both school season records as was his 86 receptions. Fellow receiver Jared Dangerfield had 82 catches in 2015, second most in school history.
Helton spent the 2013 season as Cincinnati’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. Cincinnati set a school season total offense record (6,137 yards) as Helton coached tight end Blake Annen and kick returner Ralph David Abernathy IV to All-American Athletic Conference first team honors.
He spent the previous six seasons (2007-12) at UAB, with the first five as the quarterbacks coach, and then 2012 coaching the running backs and serving as the recruiting coordinator. Under Helton’s guidance, quarterback Joe Webb developed into one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NCAA history. In 2009, when he finished sixth nationally in total offense and ninth in passing efficiency, Webb became the first player in NCAA history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. The 2009 and 2010 Blazer offenses produced the two highest total offense yardage totals in UAB history, both topping 5,000 yards. Then in 2012, running back Darrin Reaves was an All-Conference USA first teamer as he ran for 1,037 yards and a school-record 13 scores.
Helton coached tight ends and special teams at Memphis for three years (2004-06). Tigers’ kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who established the school career scoring record, was Conference USA’s Special Teams Player of the Year in 2005 and has since won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots.
Helton began his coaching career at Hawaii for four years (2000-03), the first year as a graduate assistant working with the special teams and the final three seasons as the special teams coach. In 2001, his first as a full-time coach, the Warriors led the nation in kickoff return yardage and broke the NCAA record for season kickoff return average. Return specialist Chad Owens set NCAA game records for most combined return yardage and most kickoff return yardage and tied an NCAA record with 2 scoring kick returns in a game.
Helton played quarterback at Houston (1996-99), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1999, after starring at Clements High in Sugar Land (Texas). His father, Kim, was the head coach at Houston during Tyson’s tenure.
Helton and his wife, April, have two daughters, Shelby Grace and Presley, and twin boys, Cole and Clay. Besides being Houston’s head coach (1993-99), his father, Kim, was an assistant in college (Florida, Miami and UAB), the NFL (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Raiders, Washington Redskins) and CFL (Toronto Argonauts).
THE TYSON HELTON FILE
PERSONAL
Born: June 20, 1977
Hometown: Gainesville, Fla.
College: Houston, '99
Wife: April
Children: Shelby, Presley, Cole and Clay
PLAYING CAREER (Quarterback)
High School: Clements HS
College: Houston (1996-99)
COACHING CAREER
2000: Hawai'i (Graduate Assistant)
2001-03: Hawai'i (Special Teams)
2004-06: Memphis (Tight Ends/Special Teams)
2007-11: UAB (Quarterbacks)
2012: UAB (Running Backs)
2013: Cincinnati (Tight Ends/Special Teams)
2014-15: WKU (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2016-17: USC (Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2018: Tennessee (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks)
2019-present: WKU (Head Coach)
