Kirby Shepherd just finished up his first year at UT Tyler during the 2022-2023 year after being hired as the assistant cross country and track & field coach.
Shepherd joins the Patriots after serving as the head coach of the men's and women's cross country teams from 2016-2022 and the men's and women's track & field coach from 2019-2022 at Jacksonville College in Jacksonville, Texas.
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Shepherd led the Jaguars to three consecutive regional championships for their women's cross country program in 2016-2018 and back to back men's regional titles in 2016-2017. Both programs also finished top 25 at the national meet in both 2020-2021. As head track & field coach for the Jaguars, Shepherd led the men's team to a top 25 national ranking over the 2022 season and the men's 4x400 relay team finished 8th nationally.
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Shepherd hails from Bridge City, Texas and went on to have a very successful collegiate career in both cross country and in the mid-distance category at Southern Arkansas University. At Southern Arkansas, he was a part of a cross country program that finished no worse than third in the GAC Championships from 2012-2015.
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As a member of the track & field program at Southern Arkansas, Shepherd posted several top five finishes over his career in the 1500 meters, 800 meters, the 4x400 relay, the 4x1600 relay, and the distance medley relay.
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Shepherd graduated in the spring of 2015 with a Bachelor of Business Administration-Management from Southern Arkansas University and completed his Master of Science-Kinesiology with a concentration on coaching in the summer of 2020 from Southern Arkansas University.
