Carnegie Mellon University Men's Football

Helms enters his third year as offensive coordinator for Carnegie Mellon in 2016. In Helms second season as offensive coordinator, the offense ranked 13th nationally in rushing offense (264.9), 19th in scoring offense (41.4) and 20th in total offense (487.7) while five team and nine individual single-season offensive school records were set. Running back Sam Benger was named to three All-American squads; American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press (AP) and D3football.com after leading the nation in rushing with 2,092 yards, averaging 190.2 yards per game, as he became the schools single-season rushing leader and touchdown leader with 22. Benger was the 21st player in Division III history to reach the 2,000-yard plateau. Under Helms tutelage, quarterback Andrew Hearon broke the passing yards and touchdowns mark while wide receiver Graham Schilling tied the record for receptions with 50 and now owns the touchdown receiving record with 11. For the season, eight Tartans garnered All-University Athletic Association (UAA) honors, seven were named to the All-Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) team and Benger was named both PAC and UAA Offensive Player of the Year. Helms returned to Carnegie Mellon in 2014 after playing four years for the Tartans as a safety from 1989-92. He was named team captain his senior season and currently is tied for the single-season interception record with seven. Helms also ranks third on the career interception chart with 13. While playing for the Tartans, he was a two-time All-University Athletic Association (UAA) selection and an All-American following the 1991 and 1992 seasons. Helms began his coaching career in 1993 as an assistant varsity coach for the Newark City Schools before having a five-year stint at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. While at Denison, he coached the wide receivers, defensive backs and running backs before being named offensive coordinator. Besides coaching football at Denison, he was the assistant baseball and track and field coach for the Big Red. Following the 1998 season, Helms left the collegiate ranks and became the head coach at William V. Fisher Catholic (1999-02), East Clinton (2003-05) and Chaminade Julienne Catholic (2006-10) High Schools. While the head coach at each of the schools, Helms also worked as a teacher. Throughout his tenure at William V. Fisher he also served as the athletics director. In 2011, he was the offensive coordinator at Springfield High School followed by a year as the quarterbacks coach at Trotwood-Madison High School, which finished as the Ohio Division II State Runners-up. Helms holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management and graphic communications management from the Tepper School of Business. He earned his masters degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in September 2010 in curriculum and instruction. A member of the Carnegie Mellon All-UAA 25th Anniversary Football Team, Helms was also a two-year varsity track and field athlete for the Tartans. He earned All-UAA honors on four occasions and was part of the 1993 UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship squad. Helms, a native of Newark, Ohio, and his wife Andi are blesssed to have five children.

On February 3, 2022, Carnegie Mellon University named Ryan Larsen as its 19th head football coach. Larsen came to Carnegie Mellon from Columbia University, where he served as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. Larsen, who has achieved offensive success at every one of his coaching experiences, has also worked at Stevenson University, Rhodes College, Wabash College and Indiana University. His second year at the helm of the Cardinal and Gray the squad went 10-1 and won the 2023 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Asa S. Bushnell Bowl. The Tartans climbed as high as 13th in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches Poll, the highest ranking in the AFCA Division III poll for the program, and 14th in the D3football.com poll throughout the season while ranked 25th in the final D3football.com poll. Carnegie Mellon had three football athletes selected to the 2023 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America football team as it was the 11th time that at least three have been recognized in the same season. The program now has 69 total Academic All-Americans, ranking first in Division III and third among all of college football across Divisions I, II, III and NAIA. In Larsens first season at the helm of the Tartans, he led the Cardinal and Gray to an 11-1 overall record and an 8-0 mark in the Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC). The Tartans captured the PAC title and the leagues automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship, which was the eighth all-time in program history. The Tartans advanced to the second round of the 2022 Division III NCAA Football Championship after defeating DePauw University at home to open the tournament. The 10-0 regular season record marked the seventh time in program history that a team went undefeated in the regular season. The 11 wins tied the school record for the programs most victories in a season. The team ended the season ranked 14th in the D3football.com poll, the highest D3football.com ranking in program history. The Tartans also ended the year ranked 14th in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches Poll. Larsen was named AFCA 2022 Regional Coach of the Year for Region 2 as well as PAC and ECAC Coach of the Year at the conclusion of his first season. He also was recognized as In The (D3FB) Huddle National Coach of the Year. Carnegie Mellon had a program-record five football athletes selected to the 2022 CSC Academic All-America football team. While at Columbia, Larsen helped lead the Lions to a 7-3 record in 2021, its third-highest win total since joining the Ivy League in 1956. On their way to seven wins, the Lions were the only Ivy team to beat Dartmouth. Larsen mentored Quarterback Joe Green who was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and became the first Lions quarterback to earn a postseason award since 1982. In June 2021, Larsen was selected as a participant and attended the NFL/NCAA Football Coaches Academy. In Columbias athletic department, Larsen served on the We Roar Together Committee on Diversity, Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion. As offensive coordinator at Stevenson, Larsen helped guide the Mustangs to four straight postseason appearances, a Middle Atlantic Conference Championship in 2016 with a No. 12 national ranking, three first or second place finishes in the MAC, a 32-12 overall record and three seasons of eight or more wins. During those four seasons, 37 offensive school records were set or re-established, 21 Stevenson Offensive players earned all-conference honors, and Quarterback Dan Williams was the 2017 Offensive Player of the Year for the Middle Atlantic Conference. Larsen coached at Rhodes from 2012-2014 and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2014. He helped the program to a 22-7 overall mark during his tenure, with a Southern Athletic Association Championship in 2013. In 2011, he was wide receivers coach for a Wabash program that went 12-1, were North Coast Athletic Conference Champions, and reached the NCAA Quarterfinals finishing No. 7 National Ranking. He spent two seasons on the staff at Indiana University from 2009-11. Indiana ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten Conference and No. 13 nationally in total passing with Larsen working with both the quarterbacks and wide receivers in 2010. He was one of 30 young coaches to participate in the NCAA Future Football Coaches Academy in 2010. Following Stevensons recent 2018 season, Larsen was named the Head Coach for USA Footballs Under 18-Select Team, which played against the Panama National Team as part of the 10th annual International Bowl Series. The game took place in January 2019 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In January 2018, Larsen served as Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach for the same team against UANL of Mexico. A two-year starter at quarterback at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), Larsen earned a degree in literature and leadership studies from Claremont McKenna College. He was the recipient of the 2009 Dickinson Student-Athlete Award for leadership, academic achievement, sportsmanship and services to the CMS Athletics Department. In 2010, he graduated with a masters degree in athletic administration from Indiana. A Chicago, Ill. native, Larsen and his wife Megan have two daughters, Charlotte and Ellis and reside in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jeff Simmons begins his 15th season as a full-time assistant and 19th overall on the Carnegie Mellon staff in 2024. During his first nine years on staff and from 2017 through the 2021, Simmons was the running backs and wide receivers coach and at the start of 2022 continued coaching the wideouts. Simmons was the offensive special teams coordinator after becoming a full-time assistant through the 2018 season and then was promoted to special teams coordinator in 2019. The Tartans special teams in 2023 led the nation with 10 total blocked kicks and eight blocked punts. The special teams unit set a single-game school record with three blocked punts against Thiel. The Tartans also didnt allow a block punt all season which tied them for tops in the nation. Place kicker Justin Caputo ended the season tops in Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) in field goals per game and field goal percentage, while ranking fifth and 15th, respectively, nationally. In 2022, the Tartans second straight Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) championship season, Simmons coached wide receiver Kris Hughes who ended his career as the programs all-time leader in touchdown receptions with 28. Hughes also ended his career third all-time in receiving yards with 1,925. Simmons mentored running back Tre Vasiliadis during the 2021 season, as the back led the PAC with 1,120 rushing yards and ranked 19th in Division III. Vasiliadis became the fifth player in Carnegie Mellon to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and was named to the D3football.com All-America team. As running backs coach, Simmons coached Sam Benger who became Carnegie Mellons career rushing leader his junior season and ended his career with 5,376 yards and 390 points, the most in program history. The William V. Campbell Trophy Finalist, regarded as the academic equivalent of the Heisman Trophy and given annually to the absolute football best scholar-athlete in the nation amongst all Divisions, became the first back in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in three straight seasons. During his junior campaign, Benger set the schools single-season rushing touchdown and scoring record with 28 touchdowns and 170 points. Benger repeated as the Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) Offensive Player of the Year following the 2016 campaign. He was also named to two All-American squads - American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and D3football.com. He was awarded Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III South Offensive Player of the Year honors. In 2015, Benger was named to three All-American squads American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press (AP) and D3football.com. Benger led the nation in rushing with 2,092 yards, averaging 190.2 yards per game on his way to becoming the schools single-season rushing leader. Benger was the 21st player in Division III history to reach the 2,000-yard plateau. Also in 2015, Simmons coached place kicker Gabe Renna who set the schools single-season point-after-attempt record with 56 conversions. Renna ended his career in 2016 as the schools career leader with 109 PATs while converting the last 48 attempts of his career. Simmons also mentored the programs all-time leading receiver in 2017 in John Prather. The wideout set the all-time career marks in receiver for yards (3,077), receptions (194) and then touchdown receptions (25). Simmons played his collegiate career at Slippery Rock University from 1994-1997 as a quarterback before finishing his Bachelor of Arts degree in human resources at Geneva College. His resume includes tenures as a high school quarterbacks and defensive secondary coach at Kiski Prep, and quarterbacks coach at Seneca Valley, Gateway and Shaler High Schools. Simmons is the grandson of former Carnegie Mellon head football coach and College Football Hall of Famer Chuck Klausing, who later coached at Kiski Prep with Simmons as his quarterback. Kiski Prep won the Inter-Scholastic Prep School League during Simmons senior year. Since 1994, Simmons has coached at the Team Klausing Wing-T Football Camps each summer throughout the United States, a camp that his grandfather started in 1964. Over the past few years, Simmons has taken over running the on-field coordination of the camp. The camp promotes team skills, life skills and team leadership. Notable high school teams that have been a part of the camp are: Princeton High School in West Virginia, Albany Academy in New York, Twin Lakes High School in Indiana and Maryland School for the Deaf. Former Tartans Offensive Coordinator Rich Erdelyi continues to assist Simmons at these Wing-T camps annually. Simmons, who was part of the Carnegie Mellon 2006 University Athletic Association Coaching Staff of the year, was also an instructor at the West Virginia Classic Quarterback Skills Clinic from 2007-09 and 2011 as well as an instructor at the Quarterback / Wide Receiver in the Bubble Elite Camp from 2009-2011. Simmons and his wife, Colleen, reside in Hempfield Township and have a 17-year-old daughter Hayden and 16-year-old son Luc.