December 10, 2025 • 12 mins
JaMarcus Shephard, new Head Coach for the Oregon State Beavers football program, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about why he joined OSU, his energetic nature on the sideline, his staff in Corvallis, how NIL works there, and his new roster.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the R and R Foundation Specialist broadcast studio. Now
back to Softie and Dick on your Home for the Huskies,
Kraken and the twelfth Man Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ R FM.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
For the first time, I've lost for words my way. Well,
I want to say, is this Husky nice? Yet? We
love you? We love you, okay, we appreciate all that
you do for us.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
That's that was the night of December one, twenty twenty
three in Las Vegas, Nevada. That's a good night, JaMarcus Shepherd,
grinning from ear to ear as the Huskies took down
the mighty Oregon Ducks and found their way to the
College Football Playoff, where they would defeat the Texas Longhorns
before losing eventually in heartbreaking fashion to the Michigan Wolverines.
(00:49):
And that man right there, that really is only one reason, Dick,
why I wanted Jamarcas Shepherd to get the Oregon State
coaching job so he could come back on the radio
show and say hello. For God's sake, here he is
the new coach of the Oregon State Beavers. My friend,
JaMarcus Shephard coach, How are you, Softy?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
How are you doing, brother. Good you so much for
having me on today. Truly a blessing to be on
with you today. Man, I can't tell you how much
how I appreciate you. Brother.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Well, it's great to have you back on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I do got to ask you one quick question though,
Have you signed your contract with the Beavers yet? By
the way, yes, okay, because the Michigan job, the Michigan
job just came open, brother, I just want to make sure.
I want to make sure you're locked in down there
in Corvalace.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Well, dude, first of all, I am all right, good good,
I love it. Well, congratulations on the gig. Man.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I know you've been wanting this for a long time obviously,
but tell us why this made sense for you. I mean,
you're coaching wide receivers at Alabama, obviously working with some
of the best talent in America, and you decided to
take the take the leap and move to are Valous
to be the new coach of the Beavers. Why why
did this opportunity make sense to you?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, you know what, getting into the coaching profession. For
a lot of other people, it may be because maybe
it was the it's the family business. You know their
dad maybe you know, pull them in and said, hey,
I want you to come coach a position, or some
others get into it because you know, it's the exes
and those the scheme. They want to be able to
scheme plays up and and have a chance to compete
(02:28):
against you know, really really elite talent and whatnot. You know.
And I really got into the profession for the opportunity
to really help young men grow in a way that
I was able to grow as a young man because
of the mentors that I had, So coming to Oregon
State University was with ideal.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
H How did I know that was going to happen? Well,
it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
It was not John Wilder. But get them, get them back.
We have fun and we'll get them back on the year.
We got to make sure the cell phone signal works
properly down there in Corvallis. He used to work in
the Pac twelve, the old PAC twelve. With the new
web Pac twelve, we don't know. Hey, JaMarcus, we got
to get you a new cell phone deal with your
new contract.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
By the way, all right, this is the same one
that I have when I was in Seattle at all.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
All Right, finish your this was the right job for you.
You're go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, as I was saying, you know what having
my goal is just to help young men, you know,
become the best versions of themselves. You know, all all
young people, include myself. You know, we all have a
little bit of brokenness inside of us. And uh, you know,
I just want people to see that you can have
this type of success that you want to have in
your life regardless of that brokenness that you have. And uh,
(03:46):
Oregon States specifically, you know, having coach over at Washington,
Washington State, know the Pacific Northwest, know that I'm going
to get some rain here and there. Uh, to me,
it was you know, going back, Something's always keep calling
me back. I was like Western Kentucky, then went to
Washington State. They went back to Indiana and then came
(04:06):
to Washington and went to Alabama, then came back out
here to Oregon State. So something's calling me back and
saying I belong here in the city of Northwest.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Well, Coach is great to talk to you again, as Dick. Congratulations,
you're a high energy guy. We know that.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Do you have to be a little more chill when
you're the CEO of a program, or can you be
just as energetic, just as crazy as you were when
you're a position coaching coordinator.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, you know what, It's funny. You guys always see
me that way in terms of when I'm out on
the field of play and then when I get on
some of these calls. But in my normal life, I'm
pretty calm and cool and collected and approach every obstacle
very methodically and ensure that I am very thoughtful in
(04:51):
how I do things in my life and my normal
life with my family, with our administration and so on
and so forth. But when you hit that grass, I mean,
it's either in you or it's not in you. I mean,
I mean that's just how that is. Once you touch
that grass, either it's in you or it's not in you.
You know. I talked to one of my mentors, Jeff
Brown today. He said, could Jeffert you and the master
(05:12):
at being having the most energy? You know? And guess what,
you better have somebody on her stop to bring that
kind of energy every day when I'm gonna bring it
to Okay, I'm gonna bring that energy every day to
our guys because energy just tells them to have confidence.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, Well, JaMarcus Shepherd's with US former Husky wide receivers
coach who is now the head coach at Oregon State University.
And tell me if I'm wrong, But you're not going
to be calling plays down there?
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
No, I will not be calling plays. I have hired
an offensive coordinator and he's gonna call the plays for
this upcoming season.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yeah, Mitch Dalen is that his name? By the way, I.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Cannot confirm or deny that, but he should be being
released here shortly. Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Can you confirm or deny that Lance Gidry is going
to be your defensive coordinator from West during Kentucky days?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I cannot confirm with about that.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Well done, he's shart Man. All right, Well then let
me know what you haven't changed it all.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
By the way, let me ask you a question that
you can't answer, right, because this is a different deal
now with Oregon State. The PAC twelve is getting rebuilt,
a bunch of new teams are showing up, obviously, But
you got to have money, man, you gotta have money
to pay players. I mean five years ago we would
have been arrested talking like that, right, But it's a
different day. And age now in college football. So tell
me what you need to do and what you need
(06:33):
to get done down there to compete in the nil
era in Corvallis.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Man. You know what, I think it really starts with relationships.
I mean, this NIO era is still going to be
about relationships. It's going to be relationships with our donors.
You know, you have to have great relationships with them,
and genuine great relationships with them. So that's going to
aid in that process. But I think more importantly having
(06:58):
great relationships with, you know, the young men across the
country that you're going to be recruiting. And that's what
My whole career has been built on. Relationships with people,
and in some cases not all. I think when you
have a great relationship, you're able to get discounts, you know,
and people want to come play for you because guess what, Hey,
(07:20):
I want to play for him because he's about the
right things. You know, he is truly about my degree.
He really is truly about, you know, making sure that
I become a great man. Now, I didn't say we're
gonna get him for free, but you'll have a chance
to get some of these guys at discounts. I look
across the country and when I was at my previous place,
guess what our relationships they wrung true. And we even
(07:44):
were able to access some discounts on guys because we
had great relationships at Alabama. And so I think that's
going to be more important than ever hear in this
new PAC twelve.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Was it difficult coach to convince Oregon State to let
you coach at Alabama through the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
You know what, you know, those conversations weren't difficult. We
we have some uh you know, of course Alabama wanted
me to coach there, and and and and organizations wants
me to be here, and so you know, we we've
kind of come to some conclusions on all that stuff,
and uh, hopefully we'll finalize all that here shortly.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I got you, well, uh, let's talk about the future
of your team. What is this team gonna look like
next year? How much work do you think really needs
to be done with this roster before you hit the
field in September against Houston.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You know, I feel like we have some really good
pieces on the roster right now. When I'm going through
the film looking through our players, especially on the defensive
side of the ball. I feel like we we we
got some guys who really can play at a high level.
It's just you know, some of them were banged up,
you know, had some injuries on the on the team,
and so it prevented them from really showcasing, you know,
(08:58):
the ability of the defense. And then on offensive side
of the ball, I think we got some skill position
players that are going to actually be able to be
really good players for us. Okay, we got to really
up really the competition on this football team. We got
to push the competition level so everybody in the building
had no one should walk around here think that they've
(09:21):
completely solidified a starting position at any small team. Everybody
should have a mindset that they want to compete. Okay,
that's their job as players. It is to really go
out there and grind every day, refine what we tell
them to refine, and then compete, all right, And our
job is really to teach them, critique them, and then
(09:42):
we're going to demand that they do it even better.
So we're gonna have a football team that's going to
be tough. Because I'm a tough guy and I want
to have our football team tough.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, JaMarcus Sheppard with us again, former uwide receivers coach
now the head coach at Oregon State. So you mentioned
Jeff Brown, You work with Kaitlin de Moore right obviously
at two spots. You work with Mike Leads for a
year at WA was in twenty sixteen. What what did
you take from those guys? Like, I'm I'm really curious
what you took from those guys that you will bring
with you to Oregon State this year.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, a lot of how we're gonna run the
program will be based on a lot of things that
I learned from Kaylin de Boor and just having true
maxims and things that we really carry over and over
and over again and continue to communicate those things to
our players. And when you talk about vision and goals
of the football team, it's really going to be carried
(10:33):
over from him. But then, you know, coach Coach Brohm
just brought a level of toughness to how he coached.
You know, he even coached the quarterback tough you know,
And so that piece of it, I'm going to pull
that from from what he did as a as a
coach and bring that here to Oregon State University. And
then when we talk about Mike Leach. He was really
(10:55):
thoughtful about the things that he did. Now, sometimes a
little bit too thoughtful, you know, because Fa Fleets had
an opinion on everything, But he was thoughtful about how
he was making decisions about how he was going to
make this offense flow, and how the defense was going
to flow, and even with the special teams. So just
(11:15):
being mindful of all of this, so then that way
we can put our guys in the best position to
be successful.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Well, JaMarcus, is great to have you back on the
show Man. Best of luck down there. I'm looking at
your future football schedule here. Looks like next year is
pretty much taken care of. But why do you work
on getting the Huskies on the Oregon State non conference
schedule so we can come down there and beat your
egg up?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Hey Soft, Eve, don't forget Okay, I don't believe in
Freddie Soft talking to.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Me, Freddie Soft?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
That's right, love, Hey are you going to bring Are
you bringing Freddy Soft to Corvallis.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
We're always trying to get rid of them. Okay, We're
always trying to get rid of Freddie Soft always.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I love it. Hey, go be you.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Congratulations man, I'm fired up for you. Best of luck
and we'll talk sooner, right, Thanks man.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Thank you, thank you, Salty you got it man.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
JaMarcus Sheppard with us on the radio show The New
Coach in Oregon State. I don't know if I'm a
beaver f and I'm pretty fired up for this guy. Man,
honestly outside the box, a little bit energetic guy, but
brings a lot of enthusiasm, man, So good for them.
We're gonna break a little text themodials and then Kevin
Harlan gonna join at five on ninety three three KJRFM.
From the R and R Foundation Specialist broadcast studio. Now
back to Softie and Dick on your Home for the Huskies,
Kraken and the twelfth Man Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ R FM.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
For the first time, I've lost for words my way. Well,
I want to say, is this Husky nice? Yet? We
love you? We love you, okay, we appreciate all that
you do for us.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
That's that was the night of December one, twenty twenty
three in Las Vegas, Nevada. That's a good night, JaMarcus Shepherd,
grinning from ear to ear as the Huskies took down
the mighty Oregon Ducks and found their way to the
College Football Playoff, where they would defeat the Texas Longhorns
before losing eventually in heartbreaking fashion to the Michigan Wolverines.
(00:49):
And that man right there, that really is only one reason, Dick,
why I wanted Jamarcas Shepherd to get the Oregon State
coaching job so he could come back on the radio
show and say hello. For God's sake, here he is
the new coach of the Oregon State Beavers. My friend,
JaMarcus Shephard coach, How are you, Softy?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
How are you doing, brother. Good you so much for
having me on today. Truly a blessing to be on
with you today. Man, I can't tell you how much
how I appreciate you. Brother.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Well, it's great to have you back on the show.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I do got to ask you one quick question though,
Have you signed your contract with the Beavers yet? By
the way, yes, okay, because the Michigan job, the Michigan
job just came open, brother, I just want to make sure.
I want to make sure you're locked in down there
in Corvalace.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Well, dude, first of all, I am all right, good good,
I love it. Well, congratulations on the gig. Man.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I know you've been wanting this for a long time obviously,
but tell us why this made sense for you. I mean,
you're coaching wide receivers at Alabama, obviously working with some
of the best talent in America, and you decided to
take the take the leap and move to are Valous
to be the new coach of the Beavers. Why why
did this opportunity make sense to you?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, you know what, getting into the coaching profession. For
a lot of other people, it may be because maybe
it was the it's the family business. You know their
dad maybe you know, pull them in and said, hey,
I want you to come coach a position, or some
others get into it because you know, it's the exes
and those the scheme. They want to be able to
scheme plays up and and have a chance to compete
(02:28):
against you know, really really elite talent and whatnot. You know.
And I really got into the profession for the opportunity
to really help young men grow in a way that
I was able to grow as a young man because
of the mentors that I had, So coming to Oregon
State University was with ideal.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
H How did I know that was going to happen? Well,
it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
It was not John Wilder. But get them, get them back.
We have fun and we'll get them back on the year.
We got to make sure the cell phone signal works
properly down there in Corvallis. He used to work in
the Pac twelve, the old PAC twelve. With the new
web Pac twelve, we don't know. Hey, JaMarcus, we got
to get you a new cell phone deal with your
new contract.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
By the way, all right, this is the same one
that I have when I was in Seattle at all.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
All Right, finish your this was the right job for you.
You're go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, as I was saying, you know what having
my goal is just to help young men, you know,
become the best versions of themselves. You know, all all
young people, include myself. You know, we all have a
little bit of brokenness inside of us. And uh, you know,
I just want people to see that you can have
this type of success that you want to have in
your life regardless of that brokenness that you have. And uh,
(03:46):
Oregon States specifically, you know, having coach over at Washington,
Washington State, know the Pacific Northwest, know that I'm going
to get some rain here and there. Uh, to me,
it was you know, going back, Something's always keep calling
me back. I was like Western Kentucky, then went to
Washington State. They went back to Indiana and then came
(04:06):
to Washington and went to Alabama, then came back out
here to Oregon State. So something's calling me back and
saying I belong here in the city of Northwest.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Well, Coach is great to talk to you again, as Dick. Congratulations,
you're a high energy guy. We know that.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Do you have to be a little more chill when
you're the CEO of a program, or can you be
just as energetic, just as crazy as you were when
you're a position coaching coordinator.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, you know what, It's funny. You guys always see
me that way in terms of when I'm out on
the field of play and then when I get on
some of these calls. But in my normal life, I'm
pretty calm and cool and collected and approach every obstacle
very methodically and ensure that I am very thoughtful in
(04:51):
how I do things in my life and my normal
life with my family, with our administration and so on
and so forth. But when you hit that grass, I mean,
it's either in you or it's not in you. I mean,
I mean that's just how that is. Once you touch
that grass, either it's in you or it's not in you.
You know. I talked to one of my mentors, Jeff
Brown today. He said, could Jeffert you and the master
(05:12):
at being having the most energy? You know? And guess what,
you better have somebody on her stop to bring that
kind of energy every day when I'm gonna bring it
to Okay, I'm gonna bring that energy every day to
our guys because energy just tells them to have confidence.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, Well, JaMarcus Shepherd's with US former Husky wide receivers
coach who is now the head coach at Oregon State University.
And tell me if I'm wrong, But you're not going
to be calling plays down there?
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
No, I will not be calling plays. I have hired
an offensive coordinator and he's gonna call the plays for
this upcoming season.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Yeah, Mitch Dalen is that his name? By the way, I.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Cannot confirm or deny that, but he should be being
released here shortly. Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Can you confirm or deny that Lance Gidry is going
to be your defensive coordinator from West during Kentucky days?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
I cannot confirm with about that.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Well done, he's shart Man. All right, Well then let
me know what you haven't changed it all.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
By the way, let me ask you a question that
you can't answer, right, because this is a different deal
now with Oregon State. The PAC twelve is getting rebuilt,
a bunch of new teams are showing up, obviously, But
you got to have money, man, you gotta have money
to pay players. I mean five years ago we would
have been arrested talking like that, right, But it's a
different day. And age now in college football. So tell
me what you need to do and what you need
(06:33):
to get done down there to compete in the nil
era in Corvallis.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Man. You know what, I think it really starts with relationships.
I mean, this NIO era is still going to be
about relationships. It's going to be relationships with our donors.
You know, you have to have great relationships with them,
and genuine great relationships with them. So that's going to
aid in that process. But I think more importantly having
(06:58):
great relationships with, you know, the young men across the
country that you're going to be recruiting. And that's what
My whole career has been built on. Relationships with people,
and in some cases not all. I think when you
have a great relationship, you're able to get discounts, you know,
and people want to come play for you because guess what, Hey,
(07:20):
I want to play for him because he's about the
right things. You know, he is truly about my degree.
He really is truly about, you know, making sure that
I become a great man. Now, I didn't say we're
gonna get him for free, but you'll have a chance
to get some of these guys at discounts. I look
across the country and when I was at my previous place,
guess what our relationships they wrung true. And we even
(07:44):
were able to access some discounts on guys because we
had great relationships at Alabama. And so I think that's
going to be more important than ever hear in this
new PAC twelve.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Was it difficult coach to convince Oregon State to let
you coach at Alabama through the playoffs?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
You know what, you know, those conversations weren't difficult. We
we have some uh you know, of course Alabama wanted
me to coach there, and and and and organizations wants
me to be here, and so you know, we we've
kind of come to some conclusions on all that stuff,
and uh, hopefully we'll finalize all that here shortly.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I got you, well, uh, let's talk about the future
of your team. What is this team gonna look like
next year? How much work do you think really needs
to be done with this roster before you hit the
field in September against Houston.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You know, I feel like we have some really good
pieces on the roster right now. When I'm going through
the film looking through our players, especially on the defensive
side of the ball. I feel like we we we
got some guys who really can play at a high level.
It's just you know, some of them were banged up,
you know, had some injuries on the on the team,
and so it prevented them from really showcasing, you know,
(08:58):
the ability of the defense. And then on offensive side
of the ball, I think we got some skill position
players that are going to actually be able to be
really good players for us. Okay, we got to really
up really the competition on this football team. We got
to push the competition level so everybody in the building
had no one should walk around here think that they've
(09:21):
completely solidified a starting position at any small team. Everybody
should have a mindset that they want to compete. Okay,
that's their job as players. It is to really go
out there and grind every day, refine what we tell
them to refine, and then compete, all right, And our
job is really to teach them, critique them, and then
(09:42):
we're going to demand that they do it even better.
So we're gonna have a football team that's going to
be tough. Because I'm a tough guy and I want
to have our football team tough.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, JaMarcus Sheppard with us again, former uwide receivers coach
now the head coach at Oregon State. So you mentioned
Jeff Brown, You work with Kaitlin de Moore right obviously
at two spots. You work with Mike Leads for a
year at WA was in twenty sixteen. What what did
you take from those guys? Like, I'm I'm really curious
what you took from those guys that you will bring
with you to Oregon State this year.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, a lot of how we're gonna run the
program will be based on a lot of things that
I learned from Kaylin de Boor and just having true
maxims and things that we really carry over and over
and over again and continue to communicate those things to
our players. And when you talk about vision and goals
of the football team, it's really going to be carried
(10:33):
over from him. But then, you know, coach Coach Brohm
just brought a level of toughness to how he coached.
You know, he even coached the quarterback tough you know,
And so that piece of it, I'm going to pull
that from from what he did as a as a
coach and bring that here to Oregon State University. And
then when we talk about Mike Leach. He was really
(10:55):
thoughtful about the things that he did. Now, sometimes a
little bit too thoughtful, you know, because Fa Fleets had
an opinion on everything, But he was thoughtful about how
he was making decisions about how he was going to
make this offense flow, and how the defense was going
to flow, and even with the special teams. So just
(11:15):
being mindful of all of this, so then that way
we can put our guys in the best position to
be successful.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Well, JaMarcus, is great to have you back on the
show Man. Best of luck down there. I'm looking at
your future football schedule here. Looks like next year is
pretty much taken care of. But why do you work
on getting the Huskies on the Oregon State non conference
schedule so we can come down there and beat your
egg up?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Hey Soft, Eve, don't forget Okay, I don't believe in
Freddie Soft talking to.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Me, Freddie Soft?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
That's right, love, Hey are you going to bring Are
you bringing Freddy Soft to Corvallis.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
We're always trying to get rid of them. Okay, We're
always trying to get rid of Freddie Soft always.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
I love it. Hey, go be you.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Congratulations man, I'm fired up for you. Best of luck
and we'll talk sooner, right, Thanks man.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Thank you, thank you, Salty you got it man.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
JaMarcus Sheppard with us on the radio show The New
Coach in Oregon State. I don't know if I'm a
beaver f and I'm pretty fired up for this guy. Man,
honestly outside the box, a little bit energetic guy, but
brings a lot of enthusiasm, man, So good for them.
We're gonna break a little text themodials and then Kevin
Harlan gonna join at five on ninety three three KJRFM.
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Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.