Pat Shepard is in his second season as an assistant football coach for the Penguins. He serves as Special Teams Coordinator and defensive ends coach for Head Coach Doug Phillips.
YSU's special teams unit made tremendous strides in Shepard's first campaign.
Highlighting the campaign was the naming of punter Brendon Kilpatrick as the FCS Punter of the Year by the Augusta Sports Council, the equivalent to the FBS' Ray Guy Award. Kilpatrick averaged 46 yards per punt with 14 kicks longer than 50 yards while placing 19 inside the opposition's 20-yard line. As a unit, YSU led the FCS with a net punting average of 43.5 per attempt.
Kilpatrick was named a third-team All-American after being recognized as second-team All-MVFC. Long snapper Sam Merryman was named second-team all-conference as well and received third-team All-America accolades. Placekicker Andrew Lastovka made 12 field goals and was a perfect 39-of-39 on PAT attempts for the year, including a career-long 51-yarder against UNI.
Shepard joined the program with extensive FCS coaching experience. His previous coaching stops include Indiana State, Western Illinois and Robert Morris on the FCS level and he also spent a season in Wyoming.
He spent the previous two years on the staff at Indiana State.
In 2022, the Sycamore special teams featured one of the nation’s top punting units as ISU finished 14th nationally in punt return defense (3.2) and 35th in net punting (36.97). He also coached the tight ends during his two campaigns in Terre Haute.
Before joining the ISU staff, he served as Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator for Western Illinois.
He was also responsible for Western's tight ends, after previously serving the team's running backs from 2018-19. In his first two seasons at Western, Shepard coached fullback Clint Ratkovich to back-to-back First Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors. The 2018 season also saw running back Steve McShane ranked 47th in the nation, third in the MVFC, in rushing yards per carry. McShane went on to earn a camp invite with the Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) before signing a contract with the Houston Roughnecks (XFL).
A year later, Shepard laid claim to one of the best kick returners in the nation. Justin Hall not only garnered Phil Steele FCS Freshman All-American Fourth Team recognition, but he also ranked 20th in the FCS, with a Valley-leading, 706 combined return yards. As the Leathernecks' special teams coordinator, Shepard also guided Adam Fellner to the 18th-best average in yards per punt (42.5).
Shepard went to Macomb after a stint at Wyoming, where he was responsible for assisting quarterbacks and special teams. Shepard helped with the development of quarterback Josh Allen, the seventh overall selection in the 2018 National Football League Draft, and also guided the Cowboys to the top kickoff return unit in the nation. The team led the Mountain West Conference in three categories in 2017 (kickoff return defense, punt return defense, and kickoff return average).
As an assistant coach at Robert Morris, Shepard coached tight ends from 2010-12, and was the wide receivers and pass game coordinator until 2016. The program won a Northeast Conference championship in 2010, where Shepard also guided tight end Shadrae King to First Team FCS AP All-American honors.
Shepard was a three-year letter winner at tight end at Miami (Ohio). He earned a Bachelor's in History with a minor in Coaching in 2009 and a Master's in Informational Systems and Communication from RMU in 2011.
Shepard and his wife, Amy, have a daughter named Peyton.
