JaMarcus Shephard (born May 30, 1983) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is currently the associate head coach, passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Playing career

Shephard played wide receiver at

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

from 2001 to 2004. He finished his career third all-time in school history for career all-purpose yards and first in career kickoff yardage, a record that still stood as of 2019.

Coaching career

Shephard did not initially pursue a career coaching

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

, choosing to work at the NCAA's Education Services Division in order to maintain a steady flow of income. He did coach high school football at his alma mater

Northrop High School Northrop High School is a Fort Wayne Community Schools high school located in the northern suburbs of Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. Northrop is classified as 5A by the IHSAA. Northrop High School has had a sister school, the Goethe Gymnasium ...

as a wide receivers coach in 2005, before joining the football staff at

Broad Ripple High School Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts & Humanities, established in 1886, was a magnet school of the Indianapolis Public Schools. It was closed in 2018. History Originally built in 1886 in the town of Broad Ripple, the school started with s ...

in Indianapolis as the team's wide receivers and defensive backs coach. He also did a stint at his other alma mater

DePauw Pauw (Dutch for "peacock"), de Pauw or DePauw are variants of a Dutch or Flemish surname and may refer to: People ;Pauw * Adriaan Pauw (1585–1653), Dutch Grand Pensionary of Holland *Jacques Pauw, South African investigative journalist * Michiel ...

as a volunteer assistant on the university's track and field team.

Western Kentucky

After working at the National Center for Drug-Free Sport for four years, Shephard decided to accept a volunteer coaching position on Willie Taggart's staff at

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

. After Taggart was hired to be the head coach at

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, Shephard decided to stay at Western Kentucky under new head coach

Bobby Petrino Robert Patrick Petrino (born March 10, 1961) is an American football coach. He currently serves as the Offensive Coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies. He is the former head coach for the Missouri State Bears. Previously, he served as the head coa ...

as an offensive quality control assistant working with the wide receivers on shifting the Hilltoppers from a heavy-run offense to a more balanced one. Shephard was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2014, this time on newly hired head coach Jeff Brohm's staff. He was also promoted to special teams coach for the 2015 season.

Washington State

After Hilltoppers offensive coordinator

Tyson Helton Tyson Helton (born June 20, 1977) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current Head coach, head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football, Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. He played college football at Houston C ...

resigned to accept an assistant coaching position at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

on his brother Clay's staff, Shephard was offered a promotion to offensive coordinator. Shephard declined the promotion and instead accepted a position on Mike Leach's staff at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

as the inside wide receivers coach.

Purdue

After

Jeff Brohm Jeffrey Scott Brohm (born April 24, 1971) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head football coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Brohm played college football at the University of Louisville for coach Howard Sc ...

was hired to be the next head coach at

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, Shephard joined his staff as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. He was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2018 following the resignation of

Tony Levine Tony Levine (born October 28, 1972) is a former American football coach who last coached at Purdue as the special teams coordinator, co-offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach. He is a former head coach for the Houston Cougars football team. ...

Washington

On January 12, 2022, it was announced that Shepard would join the Washington Huskies as the associate head coach, passing game coordinator, and wide receivers coach.

Personal life

A native of

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, Shephard attended

before attending

. Shephard and his wife Hallie have two children, Jaylan and Alana.

References

External links

Washington profile

Purdue profile

Washington State profile

Western Kentucky profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shephard, JaMarcus 1983 births Living people American football wide receivers DePauw Tigers football players Washington Huskies football coaches Washington State Cougars football coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches College track and field coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Indiana Western Kentucky University alumni Coaches of American football from Indiana Players of American football from Fort Wayne, Indiana African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople