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ZZUNUSED
For the Heltons, Herd football is a family affair
Brad and Tara Helton, at right, along with their two children, Ryan, 10, at left, and Haley, 7, spend about as much time at Joan C. Edwards Stadium than many families spend at home. Brad is the video coordinator for the university and his wife Tara is the director of Marshall's Buck Harless Student-Athlete academic support program.
Purchase this photoThe Helton family doesn't live at Edwards Stadium.
It just seems that way.
"There's a good chance you'll find one of the two of us here," said Brad Helton, Marshall's veteran video coordinator.
Or both of them. ... since Helton's wife, Tara, is director of Marshall's Buck Harless Student-Athlete academic support program.
Or all four of them. ... since the Helton children, Ryan, 10, and Haley, 7, are growing up at the stadium complex.
Welcome to life in the Helton family.
It ain't Ozzie & Harriet.
But some how, some way, the Heltons don't just survive this unusual lifestyle, they actually thrive in it.
"I love it," said Tara. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
For the record, the Heltons do have an address other than the corner of Third Avenue and 20th Street in Huntington.
They just don't spend much time there.
The Heltons are too busy living, loving and laboring at Edwards Stadium and the Shewey Facilities Building.
"Brad is here until 10, 11 o'clock every night," said Tara, during an interview in her office in the Shewey Building. "So, that means me and the kids go home and we have a normal routine.
"We eat, we do homework, we have bath time, we have down time. ... I try to get out of here by 5 or 5:30 p.m., but that doesn't always happen.
"I go home and bring the kids back. Or the baby-sitter will bring them here. Sometimes, they just need to see their dad."
And, goodness knows, Ryan and Haley have a better chance of seeing him at Edwards Stadium than anywhere else.
"There were a couple days during camp," said Tara, "that he didn't see Haley awake."
Brad typically gets home at 11 p.m. or later during football training camp and is back in his office by 6 a.m. the next morning. But his hours will ease slightly now that camp has ended.
"We try to have a little bit of family time," said Tara. "When the kids are in school and two-a-days are over, we'll take them to school and drop them off.
"Ryan goes with Brad and I take Haley. And that's how they like it. That's how they want it to be.
"Then, there are days we'll just pick them up from school and bring them over here. They just need to be here. ... end of sentence."
All the Heltons need to be at Edwards Stadium. That's simply how this seemingly dysfunctional family functions best.
It always has been that way. But since Tara joined the athletic department three years ago, the Edwards Stadium complex has become even more of the Heltons' home away from home.
"It was a huge concern for both sides of the family when this job opportunity came open for me," said Tara. "My dad said, 'That's a hard job anyway, coupled with the fact you are working with your husband.'
"But it was never a second thought for me. It never was a concern."
Even now, with the Heltons' respective offices located exactly across the hall from each other in the Shewey Building, it's not a concern.
"Before she worked here I actually saw her more here," said Brad, who is starting his 14th football season at Marshall. "Now, we're across the hall from each other and I rarely see her.
"I saw her Wednesday morning. ... she had a computer problem early. I saw her about 8 o'clock. I didn't see her again until we were out on the field (for afternoon football practice). I didn't see her all day.
"Even though we're this close together, we just run in completely different circles."
Who would ever guess that? At first glance, anybody would assume the Heltons practically trip over each other several times a day.
"We get this question all the time," said Tara. " 'How hard is it to work with your husband'?"
OK, I'll bite. How hard is to work at the same school, in the same athletic department, in the same building, across the hall from Brad?
"It's really no different than working with Shannon Morrison," said Tara, referring to the Herd's assistant football coach. "It's literally passing in the hallway, that's it."
As unlikely as it seems, the Heltons will go hours and not see each other.
"A few nights ago," said Tara, "I finally get home, get the kids in bed, I crawl in bed and I call Brad just to say, 'Hey, what are you doing?' It was the first time we had talked all day."
So much for close quarters.
"It's no different than if she worked on the other end of campus or the other end of town," said Brad. "But it's comforting to know that she's right here and the kids are able to come over and see us."
The common denominator is the Helton children -- Ryan and Haley.
"Ryan's first media day in '98 he was two weeks old," said Brad, while Tara produced a photograph of then-Marshall star quarterback Chad Pennington holding their infant son. "When I hire my graduate assistants, I tell them, 'Ryan came with the building.'
"He's been here 10 years."
Ryan and Haley don't know anything else. Being at Marshall is part of their lives.
"It's their normal," said Brad.
Which creates some interesting situations.
"When we were going to bowl games every year," said Brad, "we'd have to pack up all the presents and have Christmas there."
In fact, Ryan's first three Christmases were spent in Detroit at the Motor City Bowl.
"Then, in 2001 we were in Mobile (Ala.) for the GMAC Bowl," said Brad. "And Ryan asked me, 'Dad, will Santa know I'm not in Detroit?' "
Welcome to life in the Helton household.
And just think, it all started with a blind date in Bristol, Va.
"That's where Brad is from," said Tara. "I would go down in the summer and stay with my aunt. I'm from Coalwood, W.Va., about an hour south of Bluefield.
"So, we met on a blind date. ... 16, 17 years old. I didn't like him. ... at all. He was a jerk.
"But three years later, I was here as a freshman and he was at East Tennessee State and we just decided to give this a whirl."
That led to the love affair within the love affair. Brad and Tara love each other and they both love Marshall.
"This is my dream job," said Tara.
And Brad?
"I can't imagine working a 9-to-5 job," he said. "I can't imagine even as stressful as it is right now at the end of camp getting ready for the season. ... I can't imagine not going 100 mph with my hair on fire."
This lifestyle wouldn't work for 99 out of 100 families, but it's a perfect fit for Brad, Tara, Ryan and Haley.
That's why the Heltons are the first family of Marshall athletics.
"Marshall," said Tara, "is what we do."
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.
