Western Kentucky football coach Tyson Helton rolled the dice on a young offensive coordinator out of Texas five years ago when he hired Zach Kittley.

Helton brought Kittley to WKU after a record-setting run as the OC at FCS-level Houston Christian (then Houston Baptist) to try and turbo-charge the Tops’ offense. Kittley brought help with him, in the form of quarterback Bailey Zappe and wide receiver Jerreth Sterns, the headliners from several transfers from that program.

That worked.

Kittley transformed Western Kentucky into one of the nation’s most explosive offenses, averaging 44.2 points per game and 535.3 yards of total offense. The Hilltoppers closed the 2021 campaign as the FBS leader in passing yards per game (433.7) and first downs (384) and ranked second for both scoring offense and total offense and then 13th in red zone offense after scoring in 90.9% of their appearances inside the 20.

Zappe, who led FBS quarterbacks with 5,545 yards and throwing for 56 touchdowns en route to being named Conference USA’s Most Valuable Player, left after one season as a fourth-round NFL draft pick. Kittley was gone after that 2021 campaign as well, taking the same job at Texas Tech.

By all appearances, Helton went back to that playbook for this season by hiring Rick Bowie as the Tops’ new offensive coordinator.

Bowie spent last season at FCS program Abilene Christian as the offensive coordinator/QB coach, where he led one of the top passing offenses at the FCS level. Bowie’s quarterback at Abilene, Maverick McIvor, threw for 3,828 yards and 30 touchdowns and ranked fourth in the FCS in total passing yards, fifth in passing yards per game, eighth in total offense, sixth in passing touchdowns, ninth in points responsible for, fourth in total completions and seventh in completions per game.

Helton thinks Bowie can bring that dynamic offense with him to the Hilltoppers, and that started shortly after his hiring when McIvor opted to follow him to WKU.

“He has had a ton of success as a coordinator, a guy that was trained extremely well by some of the best in the business,” Helton said of Bowie. “I love that there’s consistency there from what we do and what he does. The offense is pretty much the same. Some things might change here and there, but Rick’s really good at playing the best 11.

“ … He’s a guy that loves to throw it all over the park. He has exciting offenses. He has his quarterback here with him in Maverick McIvor, which we’re excited about. Maverick is a good, productive player that I’m excited to get an opportunity this spring to watch him play. You talk about veteran guys – he’s a veteran guy that really from day one walked into the locker room and really captured the locker room and captured those offensive players. There’s consistency there for Rick on that, so it’s really been a fast transition for us just because you’ve got a talented offensive coordinator who also has his quarterback here. We’ve just got to bring the other guys along.”

That might be the biggest challenge for Bowie, who inherits an offense affected by the massive turnover throughout the program after last season’s 8-6 squad that reached the Conference USA championship game. The vast majority of contributors from last season’s offense are elsewhere now, either through exhausting eligibility or via the NCAA transfer portal.

It will be up to Bowie to evaluate those who remain and those who have arrived to find a combination that works. That process is underway as the Hilltoppers work through spring practice.

“The best 11 are going to play,” Bowie said. “I get a lot of questions nowadays about who are we gonna be on offense. The easiest way to say it is I don’t know yet. We get the chance to put the pads on here and figure out who does what well and then make sure they’re put in position to do that well frequently. So all spots are open in terms of personnel groupings and just (having) fresh eyes on a situation to try and be as productive as we can be. But there’s a lot of good football players out there, a lot to be excited about, a lot of people that are familiar with the way that we’ve played ball in the past and the success that they’ve had here so trying to continue on with that success and kind of see who can step forward.”

Bowie’s offense will look similar to past teams during Helton’s tenure – that’s by design. Helton has long preferred a pass-heavy attack and that won’t change with his new OC.

“It’s based out of an Air Raid style that this place is pretty familiar with, but then adapting with the times as defenses have changed and different skill sets of what your roster looks like,” Bowie said. “So kind of that fluidity and modernization of what the Air Raid is, is kind of what I think you can look forward to but again a lot depends on the skill set of the group that we get.”

The Tops will close the spring with the Red & White Spring Showcase on April 12 at Houchens-Smith Stadium.