Tyler Murray leaves East Helena, joins Montana Western as offensive coordinator

East Helena is losing the coach who built its football program from the first varsity snap, and Tyler Murray’s next stop puts him back on a college sideline in Dillon. Murray has been hired as the offensive coordinator at the University of Montana Western, ending a five-year run that helped turn the Vigilantes into one of the faster-rising programs in the state.

Murray coached East Helena from 2021 through 2026, the same span in which the school launched varsity football. He also taught weight lifting at East Helena High School and, in his 2026 coaching bio, was listed as the team’s head coach and offensive coordinator while working with quarterbacks and defensive backs. Under his watch, the Vigilantes reached back-to-back Class A playoff berths in 2024 and 2025, hosted the first playoff game in program history in 2025 and advanced to the first semifinal in school history later that season.

The numbers that followed matched the results. Montana Western sports information said East Helena averaged nearly 40 points per game and more than 350 yards per game in 2024 and 2025. The Vigilantes also produced nine all-state players and 40 all-conference selections during Murray’s time in East Helena, and eight players moved on to college football.

Murray arrived in East Helena after four seasons at Mission High School in St. Ignatius, where he took over a team coming off a winless 2016 season and helped lead the program out of a long drought. Mission broke an 18-year postseason absence with a playoff appearance in 2019 and returned again in 2020. That background made Murray a natural fit for East Helena’s first varsity years, when the school needed a coach capable of building structure, expectation and depth at the same time.

At Montana Western, Murray returns to familiar ground. The Hamilton native graduated from the school in 2017, played wide receiver for the Bulldogs and was a four-year letter winner. Head coach Ryan Nourse said Murray played for him and praised Murray’s leadership and coaching ability, saying the move brings in a loyal Bulldog alumnus who can help sustain and grow the program. Montana Western also enters the 2026 offseason after signing 45 student-athletes to its incoming class, giving Murray a roster base to work with as he steps into a staff that already leans heavily on Montana ties.

For East Helena, the move is both a prestige marker and a real transition point. The program that Murray constructed now has a résumé, a playoff standard and a community expecting more this fall, even as one of its key architects moves on.