Shep Campbell was defensive coordinator at Ouachita Baptist for the last two seasons, handling defensive backs in 2012 and linebackers in 2011. He previously spent two years (2006-07) working with new Demons defensive coordinator Chris Boone at Tennessee-Martin, where he coached cornerbacks.
Campbell has been on football staffs at Baylor, East Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas-Monticello and Lambuth, along with six years of high school coaching in Arkansas. Among his references are LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis, Auburn tight ends coach Tim Horton, and Arkansas State defensive coordinator (and former NSU DC) John Thompson.
“It’s a huge benefit for us to get him since he’s been a coordinator and he and Chris have coached together,” said head coach Jay Thomas. “His dad coached a long time at Arkansas and Alabama, and Shep has been around it his entire life. He is such a good person, and very similar to Coach Boone -- high energy, fundamentally very sound as a teacher.
“You look for even-keeled coaches and that’s him. Having been a defensive coordinator, he understands how the pieces fit. He’ll be really impactful coordinating special teams, and helping coach Boone on the defensive side,” said Thomas. “Shep is a go-getter on the recruiting side and is a great addition for us.”
While attending Arkansas, he worked as an assistant coach at Fayetteville High School from 1998-2001. After graduating, he spent 2002 as a graduate assistant at Baylor, then 2003 as a GA under John Thompson at East Carolina. In 2004, he coached receivers at Arkansas-Monticello then moved to Tennessee in 2005 as a GA with the Volunteers before teaming up with Boone at UT-Martin.
In 2009, he was special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Lambuth, then spent 2009 at Greene County Tech HS in Paragould, Ark., and 2010 as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Sheridan (Ark.) HS.
Personal: Campbell graduated from Arkansas with a degree in English. He did six hours of graduate work both at Baylor and East Carolina in sport administration/management.
