Ty Harrelson

Ty Gary Harrelson (born September 22, 1980) is an American-Australian basketball coach and former player. He played two years of college basketball for Wayland Baptist before playing the majority of his career in Germany and Australia. He is the current head coach of Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroCup.

High school and college career Harrelson grew up as the son of two college basketball players. He split his high school career at Sonora High School and S. H. Rider High School, finishing with 2,786 career points, which at the time put him 18th on the all-time Texas scoring list.

Professional career After leaving college, Harrelson had a pre-season stint in Italy with FuturVirtus Castelmaggiore. He played for the Fresno Heat Wave of the ABA in 2003–04 and 2004–05.

In 2005, Harrelson joined German team TV Langen. He played for BBC Bayreuth in the 2. Basketball Bundesliga in 2006–07 and 2007–08.

For the 2008–09 season, Harrelson joined Finnish team Kataja. After four games, he joined Hungarian team Falco KC Szombathely. He left Falco in November 2008 after a further four games. He was named in the SBL All-Star Five for the 2011 season.

In December 2011, Harrelson signed with the Goldfields Giants for the 2012 SBL season. He served in a dual player-assistant coach role. He was named in the SBL All-Star Five for the second straight year.

In October 2012, Harrelson signed a three-year deal with the South West Slammers to be player-coach. In October 2014, he committed to the Slammers for the 2015 season after rejecting an offer from the Goldfields Giants. He guided the Slammers to the 2015 SBL Grand Final, where they were defeated 105–75 by the Joondalup Wolves.

In July 2017, Harrelson had a three-game stint with the Slammers.

In April 2022, Harrelson had a three-game stint with TV Langen. Under his guidance, the team reached the NAIA national tournament four times. He left the program in August 2021.

In December 2021, Harrelson was named head coach of TV Langen of the German Regionalliga.

On June 1, 2022, Harrelson was appointed head coach of SC Rasta Vechta of the German second division, ProA. In June 2023, he led Vechta to the ProA championship after entering the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. By claiming the championship, the team earned promotion to the German top division, Basketball Bundesliga. As a newcomer to the league in the 2023–24 season, Harrelson and his Vechta outfit reached the play-off quarter final stages. He moved to fellow Bundesliga side Ratiopharm Ulm prior to the 2024–25 campaign. He led the Ulm squad to the 2025 Bundesliga finals, where they fell short to FC Bayern München. Noa Essengue, one of Harrelson's key players, left to the United States during the finals to attend the NBA Draft in which he was picked at number 12 overall by the Chicago Bulls. The same year, a second of Harrelson's players at Ulm, Ben Saraf, was drafted in the first round. In 2025, Harrelson was a member of Denver Nuggets’ staff in the NBA Summer League.

Personal life Harrelson obtained Australian citizenship in 2014.