Tyler Kelly joined the Western Michigan men's basketball staff as an assistant coach in June of 2025. The 2025-26 campaign will be his first with the Broncos.
Kelly came to Western Michigan after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Niagara. During his last year, the Purple Eagles were one of the best shooting teams in the MAAC, leading the way in field goal percentage (.450) and finishing second in three-point percentage (.353).
NU also boasted the best bench unit in its conference in each of Kelly's last two seasons, with its reserves ranking 23rd in all of NCAA Division I at 28.6 points per game in 2024-25. The 2023-24 campaign saw Ahmad Henderson II named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team, making him the first Niagara player to receive that honor since 2014-15.
In Kelly’s first year at NU, the program had its first winning season since 2017-18 and earned a trip to the MAAC Championship semifinals. He aided in the development of Noah Thomasson, who led the conference in scoring at 19.5 points per game on the way to All-MAAC First Team and NABC All-District First Team selections.
Before his time at Niagara, Kelly spent the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach at Lincoln Memorial University. That year, LMU went 26-5, advanced to the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Championship and reached the second round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. Under his tutelage, four Railsplitters earned SAC All-Conference honors.
Before his time at LMU, Kelly spent a pair of seasons as the lead assistant at Le Moyne, where he oversaw player development and assisted with practice plans, scouting, recruiting and travel. In his first season with the Dolphins, they captured the Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division title and were the No. 1 seed for the 2020 NE10 Tournament. The program also made its fourth straight NCAA Division II East Regional Championship appearance.
Kelly began his coaching career at his alma mater, Florida Southern, during the 2015-16 campaign. He then moved on to Green Bay, where he was responsible for player management and program operations for the Phoenix from 2016-19.
As a player, Kelly was a four-year letterwinner at Florida Southern College, where he helped the team win three SSC regular season titles, four SSC Tournament titles and make four trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Moccasins made two Elite Eight appearances and compiled a program-record 36 wins on the way to capturing the 2015 national championship. He wrapped up his career at Florida Southern tied for second in career games played (131) and fourth in assists (498).
Kelly graduated from Florida Southern in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management.
He and his wife, Gianna, have a son, Luca.
