Temple University Athletics
Football
- Title:
- Safeties
- Email:
- tyler.yelk@temple.edu
- Phone:
- 215-204-4694
Tyler Yelk joined the Temple Football staff as a defensive analyst in January 2019 following one season as an assistant coach at Northern Illinois University under Rod Carey working with the safeties. He was promoted to outside linebackers coach in July, 2019, and then moved to safeties coach in January, 2020.
Yelk joined Carey at NIU after two seasons at South Dakota where he served as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
In 2017, South Dakota ranked first in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and 12th nationally in both sacks and tackles for loss. The previous year, the Coyotes led the MVFC in takeaways. Five defensive players collected All-MVFC honors during his tenure. In Yelk’s second season, USD went 8-5, including a win over Bowling Green, and advanced to the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
Yelk coached defensive backs and special teams at Western Illinois in 2013-14 before being named co-defensive coordinator in 2015. In his final season with the Leathernecks, WIU made the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2010 and led the MVFC in both takeaways and interceptions. WIU ranked 11th nationally in turnovers and seventh in interceptions in Yelk’s season as the co-coordinator and intercepted a total of 35 passes in his three seasons in Macomb.
Yelk began his coaching career at his alma mater, Minnesota-Duluth, in 2009.
At his first coaching job, Yelk became the only Bulldog to win a National Championship as a player and coach when the Bulldogs claimed the 2010 NCAA Division II title in his second season as an assistant coach at Minnesota-Duluth. Overall, he spent four years as defensive backs coach at his alma mater, with UMD qualifying for the NCAA Playoffs each year. In addition to the 2010 undefeated season, UMD twice advanced to the quarterfinals, while two players were named All-Americans, LB Kiel Fechtelkotter and RB Isaac Odim, and seven earned all-region honors during his tenure. He also served as a special teams coordinator in 2012.
During his playing career, Yelk was an All-American defensive back for three different organizations as a senior. He ended his tenure as Minnesota-Duluth’s career leader in tackles after leading the team in tackles in three seasons, including as a freshman, and during UMD’s 2008 undefeated championship season. Yelk was twice named first-team all-NSIC/NCC. Following his senior year, he was selected to play in the 2008 Cactus Bowl, an all-star game for Division II seniors.
Yelk earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2008, and a master’s of education degree from UMD in 2012. He and his wife, Elyce, have two daughters, Leighton and Penelope.
