Newly-hired Oregon State HC JaMarcus Shephard to teach Alabama in SEC title recreation – Beaverton Valley Instances

Printed 4:27 pm Tuesday, December 2, 2025
By Isaac Streeter
Oregon State formally launched its thirty third head coach, JaMarcus Shephard, on Tuesday in Corvallis. The previous Alabama assistant is heading again to Tuscaloosa to rejoin the Crimson Tide this week.
Alabama, at present No. 9 within the Faculty Soccer Playoff rankings as of Tuesday night, performs for the SEC Championship on Saturday. The Crimson Tide face No. 3 Georgia at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC’s crown. It’s the fourth time since 2018 that Alabama faces the Bulldogs within the recreation, profitable all three prior matchups.
Shephard, the Tide’s co-offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and vast receivers coach, will likely be with them for it.
“I’m going to get my household again to Alabama, to allow them to proceed with faculty and whatnot. And so, I will likely be again there serving to (Alabama) put together for Saturday,” Shephard mentioned.
If Alabama wins its twelfth SEC championship recreation since 1992 on Saturday, head coach Kalen DeBoer’s squad is a shoe-in for the Faculty Soccer Playoff. And even when the Tide suffers its third lack of the 2025 season, they personal an in depth resume (sans a week-one loss to Florida State) to crack the 12-team discipline.
So, then what? Would Shephard proceed to teach at Alabama by means of everything of its potential playoff berth? Or will the Beavers’ new head man commerce crimson and white for orange and black for good? It appears neither Shephard or Oregon State athletics director Scott Barnes have discovered the reply but.
“To be fairly sincere about it, there’s received to be conversations had with management (at each Alabama and Oregon State) to make all these selections,” Shephard mentioned. “We’ll have these conversations right here in brief order (and) make certain we’re doing the suitable factor for everybody concerned… So we’ll work out what that appears like so that everyone feels comfy.”
Barnes echoed Shephard’s feedback shortly thereafter, however sounded much less considering having his new head coach elsewhere for for much longer.
“We’ll discuss it,” Barnes mentioned. “We actually need to give him the chance to teach within the SEC championship recreation. We’ll decide the remainder quickly.”
Coaches’ job mobility and half-in-half-out method to the postseason is on the forefront of the school football-watching zeitgeist this cycle.
Newly-introduced LSU head coach Lane Kiffin — who departed the No. 6-ranked Ole Miss Rebels this weekend — is essentially in charge. The desire-they-won’t-they saga between Kiffin, the Rebs and the Tigers occupied a novel area of venn diagram between actuality tv and carnival act. Kiffin’s exit from Oxford ended with a press release shared to his social media accounts stating that Rebels athletics director Keith Carter denied Kiffin’s “request” to stick with Ole Miss by means of the postseason. Kiffin’s offensive coordinator, Charlie Weiss Jr., will go together with him to LSU whereas staying with the Rebels for this 12 months’s playoff.
However in Kiffin’s — and Shephard’s — protection, they aren’t the primary coaches to stay round for the postseason.
Then-Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Good accepted Georgia’s head teaching place in December of 2015, however caught round to see the Crimson Tide by means of to a CFP nationwide championship win over Clemson. This 12 months, Tulane head coach John Sumrall’s new boss, the College of Florida, will enable Sumrall to stick with the Inexperienced Wave till their season ends. Tulane (10-2) performs North Texas within the American championship on Saturday and is the playoff choice committee’s projected fifth automatic-bid.
And even simply down the highway from Corvallis, the No. 5 Oregon Geese have comparable decisions to make.
Kentucky hired Oregon’s offensive coordinator, Will Stein, as its subsequent head coach on Monday night. Oregon’s defensive coordinator, Tosh Lupoi, is reportedly the front-running candidate for Cal’s head coach emptiness. The Geese (11-1) all however assured a second-straight playoff berth with their win over Washington on Saturday, however haven’t but introduced whether or not Stein, and presumably Lupoi, will proceed to teach the workforce.
However make no mistake, Shephard desires to be an Oregon State Beaver. He made that emphatically clear Tuesday.
“I do know there have been plenty of people who wished to be right here,” Shephard mentioned about accepting the job. “However I wished to be right here worse… And I didn’t simply need a shot, I wished to be at Oregon State College.”
 
 

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