BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The Mike Slive Foundation is partnering with Conference USA on
the Block Cancer initiative throughout the month of February to raise awareness for
prostate cancer, with each C-USA school choosing one conference game as its Block
Cancer event.

WKU Hilltopper Basketball designated the conference game against UTEP at 6 p.m. CT
Saturday as its Block Cancer event.

“We’re honored to participate in the Mike Slive Foundation’s Block Cancer initiative
for prostate cancer research,” WKU head coach Rick Stansbury said. “I had a
longstanding friendship going back to my days in the SEC with Mike, who knew the
importance of bringing public awareness to the fight against this disease which
affects so many. The foundation is continuing to do great work under the leadership
of Mike’s daughter, Anna, and many others, and Western Kentucky is proud to play a
role in keeping the efforts of Mike and his wife Liz going strong into the future.
We all know someone close to us who’s been affected by cancer, and it’s crucial that
we bring as much attention to screening and education as we can.”

The teams will wear blue Block Cancer shirts in pregame, and coaches will wear blue
ties. During the game, fans will see signage and videos that focus on increasing
awareness for prostate cancer. Fans will also have the opportunity to donate by
texting GIVE to 855-662-2996, or online at mikeslivefoundation.org.

“Block Cancer Month is a fantastic initiative, and we are honored to support the
cause on our campuses,” said C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod. “Mike Slive’s
courageous fight against prostate cancer and the legacy of his foundation are
inspirations to us all.”

A man dies of prostate cancer every 20 minutes, and one in seven men will get
prostate cancer in their lifetime. African-American men are 1.6 times more likely to
get prostate cancer and more than twice likely to die from it. Prostate cancer is
the second leading cause of cancer death (after skin cancer) for men.

“We are excited to partner with Conference USA on the Block Cancer initiative in
February,” said Anna Slive Harwood, President of the Mike Slive Foundation. “Using
the platform of college athletics to help raise awareness of prostate cancer was my
father’s vision. We are grateful for the ongoing support of Conference USA as we
continue to build new programming and initiatives to help change the dialogue around
prostate cancer.”

The full schedule of C-USA Block Cancer games is as follows:

February 2, 2019 – North Texas at Charlotte
February 2, 2019 – Rice at Old Dominion
February 2, 2019 – UTEP at WKU
February 7, 2019 – Old Dominion at UAB
February 7, 2019 – Charlotte at MTSU
February 9, 2019 – WKU at North Texas
February 9, 2019 – Marshall at Rice
February 9, 2019 – FIU at UTEP
February 14, 2019 – UTEP at Louisiana Tech
February 14, 2019 – UAB at Marshall
February 14, 2019 – Rice at FIU
February 14, 2019 – UTSA at Southern Miss
February 16, 2019 – Rice at FAU
TBD – TBD at UTSA

The Block Cancer initiative is possible due to the generous support of many
companies, including Prater Flooring and Linell Graphics.

About the Mike Slive Foundation: The Mike Slive Foundation endeavors to become a
global leader in the fight to eradicate prostate cancer through public awareness and
research funding in memory of Mike Slive, a transformative leader whose vision and
direction revolutionized the business of collegiate sports. For more information or
to donate to the Mike Slive Foundation, visit www.mikeslivefoundation.org.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A familiar face with a championship pedigree is back on The
Hill as former WKU offensive coordinator Tyson Helton, a Conference USA and Rose
Bowl Champion, has been named the 21st head football coach at Western Kentucky
University.

Helton, who met with his new team on Tuesday morning, will be formally introduced to
the public at a Noon press conference in the Jack and Jackie Harbaugh Club at
Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium today.

“When determining our next head football coach, there were many qualities we felt
this person must have. Certainly they needed to have an excellent football mind,
but also be a tremendous person who was respected inside and outside of the locker
room. We found that person in Tyson Helton,” WKU Director of Athletics Todd Stewart
said. “His background as an innovative offensive mind and a great motivator of his
players fit our mission to find the next great leader for our football program. We
are thrilled to bring Tyson and his wonderful family back to WKU.”

“I am pleased to welcome Tyson Helton back to the WKU family,” said Western Kentucky
University President Dr. Timothy Caboni. “He is an outstanding fit for Western
Kentucky University and his work to build a football program that competes for
championships will advance our department of athletics and enhance the national
reputation of WKU.”

Helton returns to WKU three years removed from the 2015 football season which ended
with WKU’s 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 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 proteges, WKU’s Mike White, was also
selected in the fifth round by the Dallas Cowboys.

Helton’s work with Darnold and the Trojan offense was instrumental in the team’s run
to a thrilling 52-49 victory over Penn State in the 2017 Rose Bowl following the
2016 season. Darnold was named the game’s offensive MVP after throwing a game-record
five touchdown passes and accounting for 36 points. Darnold’s 473 yards of total
offense were also a new individual record for the Rose Bowl, one of the nation’s
oldest and most prestigious postseason college football games. The 101 combined
points scored was also a new game record. Following the 2017 season in which the
Trojans won the Pac-12 Conference Championship with a 31-28 victory over Stanford,
Helton and Darnold helped lead the Trojans back to the postseason with a berth in
the 2017 Cotton Bowl.

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.

Guarantano enjoyed a week of national awards following Tennessee’s 30-24 victory
over No. 21 Auburn after he threw for 328 yards on 21 of 32 passing with two
touchdowns. For his efforts, Guarantano was named the Maxwell Award National Player
of the Week, SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, Manning Star of the Week, and PFF
College National Team of the Week.

All of this before even mentioning Helton’s otherworldly success as 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, 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 a
pair of 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 Alabama Birmingham), 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.
High School: Clements HS
College: Houston, `99
Wife: April
Children: Shelby, Presley, Cole, Clay

PLAYING CAREER (Quarterback)
High School: Clements High
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: WKU (Head Coach)

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT TYSON HELTON
Former WKU All-American offensive lineman Forrest Lamp on Tyson Helton:
“Coach Helton is the kind of coach who makes you feel like family. His knowledge for
the game is unmatchable, but even more importantly, his passion exceeds any player
or coach that I have ever had. His passion for the game and pregame speeches are
what I remember most about Coach Helton other than our high scoring offense. He will
literally make you want to run through a wall for him. He truly takes it upon
himself to make sure we were as prepared as possible and raring to go on game day. I
couldn’t think of anyone better to help take WKU to the next level.”

Former WKU quarterback Mike White on Tyson Helton:
“Coach Helton played a big role in my development during my time with him on The
Hill. He helped teach me what it took to be a successful college quarterback on and
off the field. He is the epitome of a vocal leader, and the locker room always
rallied behind him when he was at WKU. I think Coach Helton will be a great head
coach and the guys will really enjoy playing for him.”

Tennessee Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt on Tyson Helton:
“Congratulations to Tyson Helton on being named the head coach at Western Kentucky.
I’m grateful to Tyson for the hard work he put in this season and his help in
setting the foundation for future success at the University of Tennessee. Tyson is
an outstanding coach. I wish him the best and I expect he will do a great job at
WKU.”

Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer on Tyson Helton:
“I am very excited for Tyson Helton and his opportunity to become the head coach at
WKU. Tyson is very well prepared to make this transition and has a great pedigree.
His experience will serve him well, and he’ll do an outstanding job. Tyson has a
great demeanor and a way with people, and his integrity is beyond reproach. His
work ethic and people skills are tremendous. As a head coach, you have to be
comfortable in any kind of situation, whether it be in recruiting or with donors
selling the program, and I think he will do a great job in those areas.”

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Hilltopper Basketball opens its 100th season with its first
exhibition against Campbellsville at 7 p.m. Tuesday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Hilltoppers went 27-11 in 2017-18, their most wins in 10 seasons and the most in
the state of Kentucky last year, while advancing to the NIT semifinals for the first
time since 1954.

WKU head coach Rick Stansbury was a four-year letterman at guard for Campbellsville
from 1977-81 and got his coaching start as a CU student assistant.

As a senior, Stansbury helped lead Campbellsville to the school’s first District 32
hoops title and an appearance in the 1981 NAIA Tournament. He received
Campbellsville’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999 and was inducted into the
school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

EXHIBITION 1
Campbellsville (0-0) at WKU (0-0)
October 30, 2018 | 7 p.m. CT
E.A. Diddle Arena | Bowling Green, Ky.

BROADCAST
Listen: Hilltopper IMG Sports Network (WKLX 100.7 FM flagship),
WKUSports.tv (free), TuneIn Radio (free) (Paul Roper, pxp | Hal Schmitt, analysis)
Watch: WKU-PBS (BG), WBNA (Louisville); Facebook live stream on WKU Athletics page (radio simulcast)
Live Stats: WKU Stats

QUICK SHOTS
• WKU is 58-4 all-time in preseason exhibition games, and the Hilltoppers have won
26 straight preseason tune-ups dating back to a 2002-03 loss to the Harlem
Globetrotters.
• E.A. Diddle Arena is sold out of general season tickets in the preseason for
what’s believed to be the first time since the venue opened in 1963. A handful of
premium season tickets remain.
• The Hilltoppers are tied with Arkansas for the fourth-longest streak in the nation
of consecutive games with a made 3-pointer at 976. Only UNLV (1,039), Vanderbilt
(1,031) and Duke (1,021) have longer streaks.
• The Hilltoppers graduated 51.4 percent of their scoring, 60.8 percent of their
rebounding and 48.7 percent of their assists with the loss of seniors Justin
Johnson, Darius Thompson and Dwight Coleby.
• WKU was one of four schools in the nation – along with Kansas, Syracuse and Texas
A&M – with wins over teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 last season. The
Hilltoppers were the only school outside the Power 5 to accomplish the feat.
• The Hilltoppers’ 12-win improvement from the year before in 2017-18 tied for the
fifth-largest improvement in the nation. Of the teams ahead of the Hilltoppers, only
Final Four team Loyola (Ill.) had more wins than WKU’s 27.
• WKU finished the 2017-18 season with an official RPI of 32 – its highest since the
2007-08 season, when the Hilltoppers also finished 32nd. The program had not had a
higher final RPI since 1994-95, when it finished at No. 27.
• Head coach Rick Stansbury’s 12-win improvement from the 2016-17 to 2017-18 season
is the largest increase in wins for any Hilltopper Basketball coach between their
first and second seasons. The previous best was seven-win improvements by Darrin
Horn, Ralph Willard and John Oldham.
• Sophomore guard Taveion Hollingsworth is the team’s leading returning scorer at
13.3 points per game. Hollingsworth was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman
Team and set new Hilltopper records in 2017-18 for most points scored (506), minutes
played (1,312) and games started (38) by a freshman. He and graduate senior Desean
Murray were named to the Preseason All-C-USA Team.
• Not only is freshman center Charles Bassey the highest-rated recruit to play for
WKU in several decades, he’s also one of the top-five youngest players in college
basketball this season.

TICKETS
WKU Ticket Office: The WKU Ticket Office will not be open on gameday for any games
this season. General season tickets are sold out, while a handful of premium season
tickets remain. Available single-game tickets for the Campbellsville game can be
purchased online at WKUTickets.com or by calling 1-800-5-BIGRED.

PROMOTIONS
• Free schedule magnet for the first 2,500 fans
• First piece of 16-piece 100th season commemorative poster (Rick Stansbury/E.A.
Diddle) for first 3,000 fans

LAST GAME AGAINST CAMPBELLSVILLE: NOVEMBER 1, 2017 (EXHIBITION)
WKU used an all-around team effort to roll past Campbellsville, 92-51, in a
preseason exhibition victory at E.A. Diddle Arena. Taveion Hollingsworth led all
scorers with 20 points and seven steals, and Jake Ohmer had 18 points with three
3-pointers.

MED CENTER HEALTH
The 2018-19 WKU Basketball season is presented by Med Center Health. With The
Medical Center at its core, Med Center Health has served Southcentral Kentucky for
more than 90 years, and its system of care includes six acute care hospitals, a
complete network of immediate to emergency services and services in dozens of
specialties. Whether it is emergency treatment for heart attack victims or
preventative programs to improve the health of the communities it serves, Med Center
Health is committed to providing the highest level of care and service.