As Memphis continues to look for a new head coach, an interesting name that has been floated out is Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton.
Helton has been around the college game since 2000, and he’s currently in his seventh season as the head coach at Western Kentucky. He just wrapped up an 8-4 season, and the Hilltoppers will play in their seventh straight bowl game under Helton.
As Western Kentucky’s head coach, Helton holds a 56-36 record, and he’s made it to the conference championship game twice in his tenure. Helton has found a lot of success at the quarterback position, and he coached gunslingers like Bailey Zappe and Austin Reed with the Hilltoppers.
Western Kentucky has finished in the top two in scoring offense in the Conference USA in five of the seven seasons that Helton has been at the helm. He likes to move the ball downfield through the air, and his teams have averaged more than 260 passing yards per game every year since 2021.
Before taking over at Western Kentucky, Helton spent time as an assistant at seven different schools, including stops at Memphis, USC and Tennessee. Helton also spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky in 2014 and 2015 before returning to be the head coach in 2019.
Helton served as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Memphis for three seasons from 2004 to 2006. The Gainesville, Florida native served under Tommy West and coached C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year and 15-year NFL kicker Stephen Gostkowski.
Helton led Memphis following the 2006 season to become the quarterbacks coach at UAB, where his father, Kim Helton, served as the offensive coordinator. Tyson’s brother, Clay Helton, also spent nine years with the Tigers as a position coach and offensive coordinator.
Helton’s final stop as an assistant was at Tennessee, where he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2018.
Helton has shown that he can run an exciting offense that will put up points, and he would likely continue the success of quarterback play at Memphis. The biggest question would be if Helton would want to leave a program that he has spent seven years at for another group of five program.