Tyson Helton
Tyson Helton went 60–40 as a head coach, 2019–2026, at Western Kentucky. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–4); by them his record is 59–40. Share
- Record
- 60–40 career
- Seasons
- 8
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jun 20, 1977
- Alma mater
- Houston 1999
- Best season
- 2019 9–4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Western Kentucky | 9–4 | T–2nd (East) | First Responder Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | Western Kentucky | 5–7 | 3rd (East) | LendingTree Bowl L | ||
| 2021 | Western Kentucky | 9–5 | 1st (East) | Boca Raton Bowl W | ||
| 2022 | Western Kentucky | 9–5 | T–2nd | New Orleans Bowl W | ||
| 2023 | Western Kentucky | 8–5 | 4th | Famous Toastery Bowl W | ||
| 2024 | Western Kentucky | 8–6 | T–2nd | Boca Raton Bowl L | ||
| 2025 | Western Kentucky | 9–4 | 3rd | New Orleans Bowl W | ||
| 2026 | Western Kentucky | 3–4 (Wikipedia: 2–4) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Cole MaynardConsensus All‑American, 2025
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 6 | 0–6 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 4 | 0–4 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 8 | 8–0 | 100% |
| Conference games | 58 | 42–16 | 72% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 7 | 5–2 | 71% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 35 | 18–17 | 51% |
| At home | 43 | 31–12 | 72% |
| On the road | 49 | 24–25 | 49% |
| At neutral sites | 8 | 5–3 | 63% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 65 | 50–15 | 77% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 35 | 10–25 | 29% |
His own 100 games on file, 2019–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Stockstill 2019–2023 | 5–0 | Middle Tennessee | 5 | |
| Butch Davis 2019–2021 | 3–0 | Florida International | 3 | |
| Will Healy 2019–2021 | 3–0 | Charlotte | 3 | |
| Willie Taggart 2020–2022 | 2–1 | Florida Atlantic | 3 | |
| Sonny Cumbie 2023–2025 | 2–1 | Louisiana Tech | 3 | |
| Tony Sanchez 2024–2026 | 2–1 | New Mexico State | 3 | |
| Rich Rodriguez 2023–2024 | 1–2 | Jacksonville State | 3 | |
| Jeff Traylor 2021–2022 | 0–3 | UTSA | 3 |
Tyson Helton’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Middle Tennesseeseries | 7 | 7–0 |
| Florida Internationalseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Charlotteseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Sam Houstonseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| New Mexico Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Florida Atlanticseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Jacksonville Stateseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Old Dominionseries | 3 | 3–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Hawaii | Graduate assistant | |
| 2001–03 | Hawaii | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| 2004–06 | Memphis | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| 2007–11 | UAB | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2012 | UAB | Running backs coach | |
| 2013 | Cincinnati | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| 2014–15 | Western Kentucky | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2016–17 | USC | Passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2018 | Tennessee | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2019–present | Western Kentucky | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- June JonesHawai’i
- Tommy WestMemphis
- Neil CallawayUAB
- Garrick McGeeUAB
- Tommy TubervilleCincinnati
- Jeff BrohmWestern Kentucky
- Clay HeltonUSC
- Jeremy PruittTennessee
Assistants who became head coaches
- Kim HeltonHouston
- Zach KittleyFlorida Atlantic
- Tyson SummersGeorgia Southern, Colorado State
- Chad StaggsCoastal Carolina
Worked under (8)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June Jones | Hawai’i | 2000–03 | 2000: graduate assistant; 2001–03: special teams and tight ends coach | |
| Tommy West | Memphis | 2004–06 | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| Neil Callaway | UAB | 2007–11 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Garrick McGee | UAB | 2012 | Running backs coach | |
| Tommy Tuberville | Cincinnati | 2013 | Special teams and tight ends coach | |
| Jeff Brohm | Western Kentucky | 2014–15 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Clay Helton | USC | 2016–17 | Passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jeremy Pruitt | Tennessee | 2018 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (4)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kim Helton | Western Kentucky, 2019: offensive analyst | Houston | |
| Zach Kittley | Western Kentucky, 2021: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Florida Atlantic | |
| Tyson Summers | Western Kentucky, 2022–24: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Georgia Southern, Colorado State | |
| Chad Staggs | Western Kentucky, 2024: senior defensive assistant | Coastal Carolina |
Other assistants under him (14)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Bryan Ellis | Western Kentucky, 2019–20: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2021: co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach | |
| Clayton White | Western Kentucky, 2019–20: defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | |
| Maurice Crum Jr. | Western Kentucky, 2019: linebackers coach; 2020–21: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Ryan Aplin | Western Kentucky, 2020: co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Ben Arbuckle | Western Kentucky, 2021: offensive quality control coach; 2022: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Josh Crawford | Western Kentucky, 2022: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Michael Hutchings | Western Kentucky, 2022: outside linebackers coach | |
| Drew Hollingshead | Western Kentucky, 2023: offensive coordinator; 2024: co-offensive coordinator | |
| Will Friend | Western Kentucky, 2024: offensive coordinator | |
| Da’Von Brown | Western Kentucky, 2025: defensive coordinator | |
| Davis Merritt | Western Kentucky, 2025: co-defensive coordinator; 2026: defensive coordinator | |
| Rick Bowie | Western Kentucky, 2025: offensive coordinator | |
| Bodie Reeder | Western Kentucky, 2026: offensive coordinator | |
| Joe Bernardi | Western Kentucky, 2026: co-offensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Western Kentucky | offensive coordinator | $152,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Western Kentucky | offensive coordinator | $135,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Helton’s teams went for it on 27% of fourth downs and on 49% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 59% of plays and took 24.6 seconds a play, 2019–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 13 g | 25 of 97 26% | 48% | 55% | 26.8 | +0.01 | |
| 2020 12 g | 32 of 102 31% | 52% | 53% | 26.8 | −0.06 | |
| 2021 13 g | 24 of 82 29% | 54% | 69% | 21.3 | +0.24 | |
| 2022 13 g | 32 of 92 35% | 55% | 62% | 23.0 | +0.14 | |
| 2023 13 g | 24 of 95 25% | 45% | 62% | 25.2 | +0.05 | |
| 2024 14 g | 32 of 103 31% | 57% | 55% | 24.8 | +0.01 | |
| 2025 13 g | 15 of 93 16% | 30% | 58% | 24.7 | +0.07 | |
| 2026 7 g | 14 of 61 23% | 50% | 53% | 24.6 | −0.05 | |
| All 98 g | 198 of 725 27% | 49% | 59% | 24.6 | +0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.