Here's who new OSU football coach JaMarcus Shephard has hired so far

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Here's who new OSU football coach JaMarcus Shephard has hired so far

Oregon State football has ushered in a new era with a staff full of new coaches with a new conference on the horizon.

It started on Nov. 28, when OSU hired JaMarcus Shephard as the Beavers’ new head coach. Shephard, 42, left his job as co-offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at Alabama to take the reins in Corvallis.

Since then, Shephard and OSU have been filling out a new coaching staff that will lead Oregon State through its transition into the new Pac-12. New coordinators, position coaches and off-field leadership have all been introduced over the last month as Shephard has hit the ground running with the Beavers.

Here’s who Shephard and the Beavers have tabbed on the new staff, leading with OSU’s most recent hire.

Oregon State head coach JaMarcus Shephard speaks during his introductory press conference at Reser Stadium on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Corvallis, Ore.

Ricky Brumfield, special teams coordinator/cornerbacks coach

Brumfield brings roughly 20 years of coaching experience around the country at the collegiate and NFL levels. He has special teams coordinator experience, specifically at Syracuse (most recently), Georgia Tech, UTSA and Western Kentucky. The New Orleans native also spent 11 years at various NFL franchises as a part of the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship program.

He’s experienced definitive success and growth in his many special teams coordinator roles, flipping many of his school’s special teams from low-ranking units to strong points of the team.

Oregon State’s special teams were ranked 135 out of 136 by ESPN this past fall, while Brumfield’s Syracuse units were ranked No. 36.

Brumfield was officially announced to the staff Dec. 31.

Ryan Wallace, co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach

Wallace was announced as the new tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator Dec. 30. Wallace comes to Corvallis from Louisville, where he served as the tight ends coach since 2022.

Prior to that, Wallace coaching across numerous offensive roles in six seasons at Purdue. Austin Peay and Western Kentucky are also schools on Wallace’s coaching resume, predominantly in the tight ends coaching role.

Wallace played at Western Kentucky and Kentucky in the early 2010s before graduating in 2013.

Ryan Wallace joins the Oregon State coaching staff after serving as the Louisville tight ends coach the past four seasons.

James Finley, wide receivers coach

Finley is the hire in Shephard’s own specialty role, wide receivers coach. Finley joins Oregon State from Colorado State, where he held tight ends coach, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator roles over the course of three seasons.

In 2023, Finley was nominated for the Broyles Award, an award given to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Prior, Finley was a high school coach for some of the top high school programs in the nation. California schools Mater Dei and Narbonne staffed Finley in multiple roles. Finley’s a rising commodity similar to Shephard and is an exciting offensive hire announced Dec. 19.

Finley played wide receiver for two seasons at Oregon (2005-06), where he garnered 72 receptions, 708 yards and four touchdowns for the Ducks. He earned a Pac-12 honorable mention bid in 2005.

Former Oregon football player James Finley is Oregon State's new wide receivers coach. Finley was at Colorado State the past three seasons.

Cort Dennison, co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach

On Dec. 19, Dennison was announced as the Beavers’ new co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Dennison moves to OSU from Idaho, where he served in the same role for a season.

Dennison’s resume is filled with assistant roles and he’s been a hot coaching prospect in recent years, commonly being called to new programs after one season. In 2024, Dennison was Missouri State’s linebackers coach and in 2023 he was Utah’s defensive quality control assistant.

Before that, the Salt Lake City native served in multiple roles for a long stretch of time at Louisville. From 2014-21, Dennison leaped from grad assistant, to recruiting gigs, to special teams and eventually defensive coordinator under now-Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield.

He left Louisville for one season in 2018 for Oregon to coach outside linebackers but quickly returned to the Cardinals. In college, Dennison played at Washington, earning Pac-12 second-team honors in 2011 as a linebacker.

Inoke Breckterfield, defensive line coach

Breckterfield was announced to take over defensive line coach duties on Dec. 17, making his triumphant return to Corvallis.

Breckterfield played for the Beavers from 1995-98 as a defensive lineman. He earned the Pac-10’s defensive lineman of the year award in 1998 and was an all-American third-team honoree. When he left OSU as a player, Breckterfield was OSU’s career leader in sacks and tackles for loss.  

The Kaneohe, Hawaii, native has coached some elite defensive lines at some of the Power 4’s finest programs. He joins from Baylor after two seasons, and was notably with Washington (and Shephard) in the 2022-23 season. He was also Aaron Donald’s defensive line coach at Pittsburgh.

Wisconsin, Vanderbilt and UCLA also fill up an impressive resume for what is an exciting hire for Oregon State.

Eron Hodges, general manager

Hodges follows Shephard from Alabama, where he served as associate director of player personnel for two seasons.

Hodges spent four years in the U.S. Navy before graduating and assistant coaching at Kent State in 2015. From there, Hodges joined Ohio State in strength and conditioning and player personnel roles.

Player personnel and strength and conditioning have been his specialties since, and he’s done them at programs such as Purdue, Texas Tech, Louisville, TCU and Alabama. His array of experience in strength and conditioning, player personnel and recruiting make his hire an intriguing one as the Beavers searched for off-field leadership.

Hodges was announced by Oregon State on Dec. 17.

Jeff Eaton, director of football strength and conditioning

Eaton is a tenured strength and conditioning coach who brings nearly 20 years of experience to the role.

Eaton most recently served in similar roles to the one he will lead in Corvallis at Virginia Tech (2025), Miami (2022-24), Oregon (2019-21), Purdue (2017-19) as well as UNLV, Morgan State, San Diego State and Penn State.

As a player, Eaton is a former defensive lineman and renowned as a leader, hard worker and a coach who cares for the physical and mental well-being of his athletes.

Eaton was announced as Oregon State’s new director of football strength and conditioning on Dec. 11.

Mitch Dahlen, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach

Dahlen was Shephard’s first hire as a Beaver. Dahlen was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach on Dec. 11, following Shephard from Alabama.

Dahlen was Kalen DeBoer’s assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach for two seasons at Alabama. Before that, Dahlen was with DeBoer and Shephard in a similar role at Washington and Fresno State before that.

On the field, Dahlen played quarterback for Utah and Southern Utah. Dahlen notably has ties to Oregon State and Corvallis — both his parents and brother attended OSU.

Dahlen’s a young, exciting hire who’s strongly connected to the nationally revered offenses that Washington and Alabama have produced over the last half-decade.

Landon Bartlett covers Oregon State and high school sports for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at LBartlett@salem.gannett.com or on X or Instagram @bartlelo.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: How the new Oregon State football staff has shaped up so far

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