Jolene Shepardson

Biography

As a player, Jolene Shepardson experienced individual accolades and championship-level performances. As a head coach, she has a proven track record for turning around programs and building strong foundations. Shepardson, named head coach of USF volleyball on Jan. 8, 2020, says she will blend all of those experiences to help her alma mater into a new era of prosperity. As a USF volleyball player, Shepardson was part of two conference champions and NCAA Tournament qualifiers (2000 and 2002). Prior to USF, Shepardson was the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year and an all-conference player at the University of Tampa, which she helped to the NCAA Division II national-championship game. During her high-school career at Tampa Prep, Shepardson earned Gatorade Florida Player of the Year and all-state honors, and was part of three state championship teams and one state runner-up. Shepardson came to USF with nine years of head-coaching experience, most recently guiding San Jose State for six seasons and prior to that Cal State Bakersfield for three, with both programs seeing dramatic improvement under her leadership. At SJSU, she improved the program from four wins overall to 17 and posted back-to-back winning seasons in 2017 and 2018. At Bakersfield, she led the program from zero wins to 21 wins and second-place finishes in the WAC. She also spent the 2010 season as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech, helping lead the Hokies to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. S