USC hires WKU's Tyson Helton, Utah DC John Pease retires
Two Pac-12 schools announced coaching staff changes on Monday.
First, USC coach Clay Helton confirmed the hiring of Tyson Helton and Neil Callaway from Western Kentucky.
Tyson Helton, Clay’s younger brother, will serve as USC’s running backs coach and pass game coordinator after spending the past two seasons as WKU’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Callaway will be USC’s offensive line coach, the same position he held at WKU in the last three seasons.
According to USC’s release, Western Kentucky broke “more than two dozen school offensive records” with Helton running the Hilltoppers’ offense. Helton also had stints as an assistant at Cincinnati, UAB, Memphis and Hawaii.
Before his time at WKU, Callaway was the head coach at UAB from 2007-11 and was an assistant at Georgia (offensive coordinator), Alabama, Houston, and Auburn (offensive line coach).
“We are very excited to welcome Tyson and Neil to the Trojan Family,” said Clay Helton. “Their experience and knowledge will be a huge benefit to our players as well as our football program. Both have been highly successful coordinators and we look forward to the fresh energy and ideas they will bring. I have watched them produce a pair of Top 10 offenses that averaged more than 44 points a game each of the past 2 years. We look forward to them helping bring the same explosiveness to our offense at USC.”
Elsewhere, Utah announced that defensive coordinator John Pease has retired. The 72-year-old Pease, a Utah alum, came out of retirement to coach the Utes’ defense this season. Pease previously came out of retirement to coach Utah’s defensive line in 2009 and 2010. Before then, he was a defensive assistant in the NFL from 1986-2005.
“We appreciate the passion, energy and coaching expertise that John Pease brought to our program on a daily basis,” Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “While we completely understand his decision to retire, players and coaches alike are sorry to see him leave. Through the years, John has had a major impact on Utah football as a player, coach and longtime friend and advisor."
To replace Pease, Whittingham has promoted Morgan Scalley to defensive coordinator. Scalley has been the team’s safeties coach since 2008 and recruiting coordinator since 2009. Scalley was also the team’s special teams coordinator this season.
“Morgan has played an ever increasing role in our overall defensive scheming the past few seasons and is ready to take the reigns as the defensive coordinator,” said Whittingham. “He is bright, innovative and hard working.”
Scalley was the Mountain West co-defensive player of the year in 2004, when Utah reached the Fiesta Bowl. He joined Utah’s staff in 2006 and was promoted to a full-time assistant in 2008.
For more USC news, visit TrojanSports.com.
For more Utah news, visit Utezone.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!