Football
JaMarcus Shephard
- Title:
- Head Coach
JaMarcus Shephard is the 33rd head coach in Oregon State’s history and the 2026 season is his first leading the program.
Shephard was named Oregon State’s head coach on Nov. 28, 2025, after spending two seasons at Alabama, most recently as the Crimson Tide’s assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. He arrived in Corvallis with a reputation as one of the nation’s premier developers of wide receivers, having coached a consensus All-American, a first-team All-American, multiple NFL draft picks and a string of nationally ranked passing offenses across stops at Alabama, Washington, Purdue, Washington State and Western Kentucky.
Shephard followed head coach Kalen DeBoer to Tuscaloosa in February of 2024, serving as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. The Crimson Tide went 9-4 as Shephard helped Germie Bernard and Ryan Williams post standout first seasons in 2024. Bernard, a Washington transfer, led Alabama in catches with career-high marks of 50 receptions for 794 yards, while Williams accumulated a team-high 865 yards and eight touchdowns on 48 receptions, adding two rushing scores for 10 total touchdowns — seventh in the SEC. The freshman wrapped his rookie campaign with all-conference and All-America honors.Â
Shephard was promoted to assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the 2025 season, helping guide Alabama to an 11-4 record, a 7-1 mark in SEC play, a College Football Playoff first-round win over Oklahoma and a No. 9 ranking in the final Associated Press poll.
Shephard spent the previous two seasons at Washington as assistant head coach, pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach.Â
In 2023, the Huskies went 14-1, advanced to the College Football Playoff National Championship game and became the first team to go undefeated in Pac-12 play since the league expanded to 12 teams in 2011. Washington’s passing game ranked second nationally at 343.7 yards per game while the Huskies scored 36.0 points per game. The unit featured one of the nation’s top wide receiver corps with a pair of 1,000-yard seasons from first team All-American Rome Odunze, who recorded 92 receptions for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns, and Ja’Lynn Polk, who caught 69 passes for 1,159 yards and nine scores.
The duo went on to be selected in the first and second rounds, respectively, of the 2024 NFL Draft.
In his first season in Seattle, in 2022, Shephard oversaw a receiver unit that helped the Huskies to an 11-2 record and an Alamo Bowl win over Texas. Washington led the nation in both passing offense (369.8 yards per game) and third-down conversions (57 percent) while finishing second in total offense at 515.8 yards per game — one season after the Huskies ranked 73rd in passing offense and 114th in total offense.Â
Odunze (75 receptions, 1,145 yards) and Jalen McMillan (79 receptions, 1,098 yards) made Washington the only team in the nation with two players ranked among the top 20 nationally in catches and the top 15 in yards, and Shephard was named the 2022 FootballScoop Wide Receivers Coach of the Year.
Shephard worked at Purdue for five seasons from 2017-21, serving as pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2017 before spending his final four seasons as co-offensive coordinator while continuing to coach the wideouts.Â
In 2021, Purdue’s passing offense averaged 355.3 yards per game — fifth best in the nation — on the way to a 9-4 finish and a win over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. Wide receiver David Bell caught 93 passes for 1,286 yards that season to rank second in the NCAA in receptions per game and fifth in yards per game, earning first team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year, while teammate Milton Wright made honorable mention with 57 catches for 782 yards. In 2020, Bell led the Big Ten in receptions (53), receiving touchdowns (eight) and receiving yards per game (104.2).
Bell was named the 2019 Big Ten Freshman of the Year after leading the conference with 86 receptions for 1,035 yards — one season after Rondale Moore claimed the same award, marking just the fifth time in league history that teammates won the honor in consecutive years.Â
Moore’s 2018 season stands among the most decorated in program history: the true freshman led the nation with 114 receptions for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns, won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player, became the first true freshman consensus All-American in Big Ten history and broke Purdue’s single-season record with 2,215 all-purpose yards. Moore was eventually selected in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Shephard coached wide receivers at Washington State during the 2016 season, when the Cougars averaged 370.8 passing yards per game, highlighted by future NFL receiver River Cracraft’s 53 receptions for 701 yards and five touchdowns despite an injury-shortened season.
Shephard began his college coaching career at Western Kentucky in 2011 as a defensive analyst and volunteer assistant before moving to offensive analyst in 2013 and into a full-time role as receivers coach from 2014-15.Â
In his two seasons as a full-time staffer, Hilltopper receivers amassed 553 receptions and 86 touchdowns as the offense threw for 374.3 yards per game in 2014 and 372.2 yards per game in 2015, leading the nation in touchdown passes both seasons. Taywan Taylor ranked third nationally with 1,467 receiving yards on 86 catches in 2015 while finishing second in the country in receiving touchdowns.
Shephard got his start in coaching in the Indiana high school ranks, serving as an assistant at his alma mater, Fort Wayne Northrop, in 2005, and at Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis in 2006. He returned to DePauw in 2007 as a volunteer assistant with the track & field program, working with long jumpers and sprinters. He also worked in the NCAA Championships and Education Services Division in 2006 and 2007 and with the National Center for Drug-Free Sport in Kansas City, Mo., from 2007-11.
A four-year letterwinner at DePauw from 2001-04, Shephard was a two-time All-American who still holds the school record for career kickoff return yards (1,430) while ranking sixth in receptions (168) and seventh in receiving yards (2,382). He served as a team captain and caught 47 passes for 815 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior, and was one of only two Division III players to compete in the 2005 Hula Bowl. He also interned with the Philadelphia Eagles during his junior year.
Shephard graduated from DePauw in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine and earned his master’s degree in recreation and sport administration from Western Kentucky in 2013.
Personal
Shephard and his wife, Hallie, have three children: Jaylan, Alana and Maliyah.
Coaching Career
• 2025-present: Oregon State (Head Coach)
• 2024-25: Alabama (Assistant Head Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2022-23: Washington (Assistant Head Coach/Pass Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2018-21: Purdue (Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2017: Purdue (Pass Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2016: Washington State (Wide Receivers)
• 2014-15: Western Kentucky (Wide Receivers)
• 2012-13: Western Kentucky (Quality Control)
• 2011: Western Kentucky (Defensive Analyst/Volunteer Assistant)
• 2006: Broad Ripple (Ind.) HS (WR/DB)
• 2005: Northrop (Ind.) HS (Wide Receivers)
Playing Career
• 2001-04: DePauw
Shephard was named Oregon State’s head coach on Nov. 28, 2025, after spending two seasons at Alabama, most recently as the Crimson Tide’s assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. He arrived in Corvallis with a reputation as one of the nation’s premier developers of wide receivers, having coached a consensus All-American, a first-team All-American, multiple NFL draft picks and a string of nationally ranked passing offenses across stops at Alabama, Washington, Purdue, Washington State and Western Kentucky.
Shephard followed head coach Kalen DeBoer to Tuscaloosa in February of 2024, serving as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. The Crimson Tide went 9-4 as Shephard helped Germie Bernard and Ryan Williams post standout first seasons in 2024. Bernard, a Washington transfer, led Alabama in catches with career-high marks of 50 receptions for 794 yards, while Williams accumulated a team-high 865 yards and eight touchdowns on 48 receptions, adding two rushing scores for 10 total touchdowns — seventh in the SEC. The freshman wrapped his rookie campaign with all-conference and All-America honors.Â
Shephard was promoted to assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the 2025 season, helping guide Alabama to an 11-4 record, a 7-1 mark in SEC play, a College Football Playoff first-round win over Oklahoma and a No. 9 ranking in the final Associated Press poll.
Shephard spent the previous two seasons at Washington as assistant head coach, pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach.Â
In 2023, the Huskies went 14-1, advanced to the College Football Playoff National Championship game and became the first team to go undefeated in Pac-12 play since the league expanded to 12 teams in 2011. Washington’s passing game ranked second nationally at 343.7 yards per game while the Huskies scored 36.0 points per game. The unit featured one of the nation’s top wide receiver corps with a pair of 1,000-yard seasons from first team All-American Rome Odunze, who recorded 92 receptions for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns, and Ja’Lynn Polk, who caught 69 passes for 1,159 yards and nine scores.
The duo went on to be selected in the first and second rounds, respectively, of the 2024 NFL Draft.
In his first season in Seattle, in 2022, Shephard oversaw a receiver unit that helped the Huskies to an 11-2 record and an Alamo Bowl win over Texas. Washington led the nation in both passing offense (369.8 yards per game) and third-down conversions (57 percent) while finishing second in total offense at 515.8 yards per game — one season after the Huskies ranked 73rd in passing offense and 114th in total offense.Â
Odunze (75 receptions, 1,145 yards) and Jalen McMillan (79 receptions, 1,098 yards) made Washington the only team in the nation with two players ranked among the top 20 nationally in catches and the top 15 in yards, and Shephard was named the 2022 FootballScoop Wide Receivers Coach of the Year.
Shephard worked at Purdue for five seasons from 2017-21, serving as pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2017 before spending his final four seasons as co-offensive coordinator while continuing to coach the wideouts.Â
In 2021, Purdue’s passing offense averaged 355.3 yards per game — fifth best in the nation — on the way to a 9-4 finish and a win over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. Wide receiver David Bell caught 93 passes for 1,286 yards that season to rank second in the NCAA in receptions per game and fifth in yards per game, earning first team All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year, while teammate Milton Wright made honorable mention with 57 catches for 782 yards. In 2020, Bell led the Big Ten in receptions (53), receiving touchdowns (eight) and receiving yards per game (104.2).
Bell was named the 2019 Big Ten Freshman of the Year after leading the conference with 86 receptions for 1,035 yards — one season after Rondale Moore claimed the same award, marking just the fifth time in league history that teammates won the honor in consecutive years.Â
Moore’s 2018 season stands among the most decorated in program history: the true freshman led the nation with 114 receptions for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns, won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player, became the first true freshman consensus All-American in Big Ten history and broke Purdue’s single-season record with 2,215 all-purpose yards. Moore was eventually selected in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Shephard coached wide receivers at Washington State during the 2016 season, when the Cougars averaged 370.8 passing yards per game, highlighted by future NFL receiver River Cracraft’s 53 receptions for 701 yards and five touchdowns despite an injury-shortened season.
Shephard began his college coaching career at Western Kentucky in 2011 as a defensive analyst and volunteer assistant before moving to offensive analyst in 2013 and into a full-time role as receivers coach from 2014-15.Â
In his two seasons as a full-time staffer, Hilltopper receivers amassed 553 receptions and 86 touchdowns as the offense threw for 374.3 yards per game in 2014 and 372.2 yards per game in 2015, leading the nation in touchdown passes both seasons. Taywan Taylor ranked third nationally with 1,467 receiving yards on 86 catches in 2015 while finishing second in the country in receiving touchdowns.
Shephard got his start in coaching in the Indiana high school ranks, serving as an assistant at his alma mater, Fort Wayne Northrop, in 2005, and at Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis in 2006. He returned to DePauw in 2007 as a volunteer assistant with the track & field program, working with long jumpers and sprinters. He also worked in the NCAA Championships and Education Services Division in 2006 and 2007 and with the National Center for Drug-Free Sport in Kansas City, Mo., from 2007-11.
A four-year letterwinner at DePauw from 2001-04, Shephard was a two-time All-American who still holds the school record for career kickoff return yards (1,430) while ranking sixth in receptions (168) and seventh in receiving yards (2,382). He served as a team captain and caught 47 passes for 815 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior, and was one of only two Division III players to compete in the 2005 Hula Bowl. He also interned with the Philadelphia Eagles during his junior year.
Shephard graduated from DePauw in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine and earned his master’s degree in recreation and sport administration from Western Kentucky in 2013.
Personal
Shephard and his wife, Hallie, have three children: Jaylan, Alana and Maliyah.
Coaching Career
• 2025-present: Oregon State (Head Coach)
• 2024-25: Alabama (Assistant Head Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2022-23: Washington (Assistant Head Coach/Pass Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2018-21: Purdue (Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2017: Purdue (Pass Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
• 2016: Washington State (Wide Receivers)
• 2014-15: Western Kentucky (Wide Receivers)
• 2012-13: Western Kentucky (Quality Control)
• 2011: Western Kentucky (Defensive Analyst/Volunteer Assistant)
• 2006: Broad Ripple (Ind.) HS (WR/DB)
• 2005: Northrop (Ind.) HS (Wide Receivers)
Playing Career
• 2001-04: DePauw
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, May 06
Monday, April 20
Monday, April 13
