2024 Purdue Football Coaching Search - Tyson Helton
Who Is He?
While Jamey Chadwell is the clear BS Frontrunner, the second option is equally as clear at BS Headquarters.
Tyson Helton is a name that might sound familiar to those who followed the 2022 Coaching Search - he is the 47 year old head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, a former assistant to Jeff Brohm, and Midwest passing game guru with a 48-30 (62%) overall record in his six seasons at WKU. He finished runner-up in the Conference USA Championship Game in 2021, and will play at Jacksonville State for the CUSA Championship this Friday.
(Convenient that the game is on Friday, if you want to hire him away.)
Why would he be successful at Purdue?
There’s tons more in the 2022 Coaching Search capsule for Helton - but the gist of it hasn’t changed. Helton’s passing games continue to put up very good numbers - starting QB and hometown sophomore Caden Veltkamp threw for 2,665 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in his first season as a starter after the graduation of Austin Reed (who threw for over 8,000 yards, 71 passing touchdowns, and 12 rushing touchdowns in his two seasons under Helton. All that after the eye-popping numbers Bailey Zappe put up in Bowling Green, KY.
He has also mentored many young offensive coaches - former OC Zach Kittley just got hired to be Florida Atlantic University’s head coach at 33 years old. Ben Arbuckle, who followed Kittley and Zappe from Houston Baptist to WKU, was Washington State’s OC until he was just hired to be Oklahoma’s OC at age 29. Currently, the Co-OCs at WKU are veteran offensive line coach Will Friend and 34 year old Drew Hollingshead, both directly from Mike Leach’s staff at Mississippi State and Washington State - coaching Will Rogers, Gardner Minshew, and Luke Falk.
Why could he flop at Purdue?
Like two years ago, every G5 coach possesses risk - especially one who won’t come in with as much brashness as Curt Cignetti did in Bloomington a year ago. That’s the model that everyone below blueblood-level will try to replicate - and it can’t be done. Like it or not, there’s something truly magical happening in Bloomington - on the football field - and risking everything to replicate it would be a mistake.
Helton is much more mild-mannered than Cignetti, Brohm, Danny Hope, and early-days Joe Tiller - much closer to the even temperament of Ryan Walters, which might not instantly excite fans as much as comparison would prompt. Helton isn’t a big recruiter, but has utilized the transfer portal in unique ways. He would run a much smoother organization than Walters (and even Brohm), but in the new era of college football, can he adapt to payroll and retention challenges along with everything else?
As we saw, the job of a Big Ten coach suddenly got a lot tougher.
Would he come to Purdue?
Helton brings so much that matches Purdue’s identity - not just the surface-level Brohm connection, but all the way through. In 2022, I thought he’d be a “safe” hire, and he reportedly was Purdue’s runner-up choice to Ryan Walters.
Now? The more I watch him, with two more years sustaining what he built through another QB & OC change, the more I see him be comfortable in interviews while remaining a very well-liked figure within coaching, the more I realize he might be exactly what Purdue needs in 2024.
(And, his last game of the season is on Friday, giving Purdue an extra day to finalize things before next week’s Transfer Portal opening.)
There are times when flash means “big names, big checks” - and the NIL, recruiting, and General Manager role would have to be guaranteed regardless of whatever coach is hired this week. But, sometimes, the biggest, flashiest hire might be the one that fits like a perfect puzzle piece.
I think Helton would love to be Purdue’s head coach. Pair him with a high-level football operations GM, and I think Purdue’s identity is restored and its immediate future is stabilized.
