Since being named Wayland Baptist’s head men’s basketball coach in 2015, Ty Harrelson has led the Pioneers to historic success. In five seasons as the program’s head coach, Harrelson has guided Wayland Baptist to a 108-54 (.667) overall record, one Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship, one Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship, and four NAIA Tournament berths.
The 2018-19 Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Harrelson has led the Pioneers to three consecutive 20-plus win seasons and 28 wins over teams ranked in the Top 25 nationally. Harrelson also led the Pioneers to the first Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship in program history in 2018-19 and only the program’s second Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship in 2015-16. In 2017-18 Harrelson guided Wayland Baptist to the Elite Eight of the NAIA Tournament for only the second time in program history and first time in more than 20 seasons.
Harrelson has recruited and coached 12 Sooner Athletic Conference All-Conference Team selections, as well as one SAC Player of the Year, one SAC Freshman of the Year, and one SAC Defensive Player of the Year. Five players have earned NAIA All-America Team honors, including local standout J.J. Culver.
Harrelson’s program also has excelled in the classroom, as his team has led the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 3.0-plus GPA for five consecutive seasons, and 10 Pioneers have earned Academic All-American honors.
The son of parents who played college basketball at Texas State, Harrelson graduated from Wichita Falls Rider High School where he played under his father, Scott. In high school, Harrelson scored 2,786 points, which at that time ranked 18th on the all-time scoring list in the state of Texas.
Harrelson went on to play under Coach Jim Sigona at Collin County Community College in Plano in 1999 before spending his sophomore season in the Lone Star Conference at Cameron University. He transferred to Wayland Baptist for the 2001-02 season and help the team back to the NAIA Tournament for the first time in a decade, while returning again to the NAIA Tournament during his senior season in 2002-03.
A 2014 inductee into the Wayland Baptist Athletics Hall of Honor, Harrelson earned All-Sooner Athletic Conference honors both of his playing seasons and was the program’s first-ever NAIA First-Team All-American in 2002-03. For his two-season career at Wayland Baptist, he scored 1,111 points. Harrelson still holds school records for highest assist average in a season (6.8), most assists in a game (15), and best free-throw percentage in a season (88.8%).
That success led Harrelson to play and coach professional basketball from 2003 to 2015 in Europe and Australia where he garnered numerous accolades. In 2016, he served as an advance scout for the Australian Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, which competed for the bronze medal at the Rio Games.
Coach Harrelson and his wife, Belynda, are the parents of three children, Luke, Emma and Lily.
