March 10, 2021
A life in sports was always a dream for Tyler Boyles. A 2013 graduate of Shawnee State University, Boyles was a member of the university’s Men’s Basketball team that received the program’s first national ranking in the NAIA. Living out his dreams of college basketball at SSU, Boyles still remained connected to his other passion – football. Throughout the fall seasons at college, Boyles volunteered with his past team at Raceland High School in Kentucky. His role there helped him develop several professional skills that would later translate into his career – as the Assistant to the Head Coach with the Indianapolis Colts organization.
“I pride myself on my time management and organization skills,” said Boyles, who played for the Bears all four years he attended SSU. “That really came from balancing being an athlete and being a student in college. Those skills helped me prepare for my next steps.”
After graduating from SSU, Boyles went on to serve as a graduate assistant at two other institutions, earning a Master’s in Sports Administration as well as a Master’s in Strategic Leadership along the way. His positions gave him the opportunity to work closely within football operations, coordinating travel, offensive quality control, and camp sessions. He then took on a General Manager role within a football consulting business helping high schools around the country formulate offensive game plans.
While Boyles didn’t stay in the same sport that he played in college, his connection to SSU Men’s Basketball still means a lot to him today.
“I met my best friends in life at Shawnee playing basketball with them,” he said. “We worked hard and we made a lot of memories together. The relationships I built there are ones that are still important to me today.”
During his time in his second graduate assistant position, he made a connection that would later lead to a position with the Indianapolis Colts organization in the National Football League (NFL). At only 29 years old, Boyles found himself living out a childhood goal.
“My dream was always to make it to the NFL,” he said. “If you watch football at a young age and then you end up in coaching, your dream is to make it to the highest level you can. Being able to be at this level, doing the things that I’m doing – things that I love – it means the world to me.”
In his role, Boyles helps to oversee all football-related activities with the Colts’ Head Coach. His time at SSU and in his roles after graduation, helped prepare him to take on a role at this level.
“I knew I wanted to stay in sports in my career,” said Boyles. “As a part of the basketball team we knew we had to put in the hard work each day to get the results we wanted. So that’s what I did after college. I did a lot of jobs, with a lot of different responsibilities, but I knew that working hard would lead me to where I wanted to go.”
Boyles currently resides in Whitestown, Indiana with his wife Bethany and their daughter Emma.
This alumni feature was originally released in the Shawnee Magazine: Fall 2020 issue. To view the full magazine online, visit shawnee.edu/magazine.