# James Shibest

James John Shibest (born October 31, 1964) is an American football coach and former wide receiver, who is the special teams coordinator at Purdue University, a position he has held since the 2025 season. Shibest served as the head football coach at Butler County Community College—now known as Butler Community College—from 1996 and 1999, leading the Grizzlies to two NJCAA National Football Championships. For most of his career, he has been a special teams coach. Shibest played college football at the University of Arkansas and briefly in the National Football League (NFL) as a replacement player during the 1987 strike.

## Playing career

In high school, Shibest was a prep All-American wide receiver at MacArthur High School in Houston. Shibest played wide receiver at Arkansas for head coach Ken Hatfield from 1983 to 1986. He earned All-Southwest Conference honors in 1984 and 1986, and set a then-school record for receiving. He helped Arkansas finish 10-2 in 1985 and beat Arizona State in the 1985 Holiday Bowl. He also played one game in 1987 for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) as a replacement during that year's player strike.

## Coaching career

Shibest began his coaching career as an offensive graduate assistant working with the running backs and wide receivers at Oklahoma State for the 1990 and 1991 football seasons. From Oklahoma State, Shibest moved on to Independence Community College, where he was the offensive coordinator in 1992, and the defensive backs coach in 1993. In 1994 and 1995, Shibest was the offensive coordinator for Garden City Community College.
In 1996, Shibest was hired as the head football coach at Butler County Community College—now known as Butler Community College. In four years, from 1996 to 1999, Shibest led the Grizzlies to two Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) titles and two NJCAA National Football Championships. He was twice named the KJCCC Coach of the year and also twice named the NJCAA Coach of the year.
In 2000, Shibest joined Houston Nutt's staff at Arkansas as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator. He also coached wide receivers during his tenure at Arkansas, helping the Razorbacks win the SEC West Division title in 2002 and 2006, and win the 2003 Independence Bowl over Missouri. In 2008, Shibest followed Nutt to Ole Miss as the tight ends and special teams coach, helping the Rebels win back-to-back Cotton Bowls. In 2012, he joined Justin Fuente's staff at Memphis in the same position. He then followed Fuente to Virginia Tech in 2016. Shibest stayed at Va Tech through 2021, when Fuente was fired. In 2023 he accepted the Special Teams Coordinator position at UNLV under head coach Barry Odom. When Odom left for Purdue after the 2024 season, Shibest followed.

## Personal life

Shibest and his wife, Dianna, have two children, James John III and Jordyn Grace.

## Head coaching record

| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | NJCAA$^#$ |
| Butler County Grizzlies (Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference) (1996–1999) |||||||
| 1996 | Butler County | 7–4 | 5–2 | T–3rd | L KJCCC semifinal, L Valley of the Sun Bowl | 15 |
| 1997 | Butler County | 4–5 | 4–3 | T–3rd | L KJCCC quarterfinal | |
| 1998 | Butler County | 12–0 | 7–0 | 1st | W KJCCC championship, W Real Dairy Bowl | 1 |
| 1999 | Butler County | 11–1 | 6–1 | 2nd | W KJCCC championship, W Dixie Rotary Bowl | 1 |
| Butler County: | Butler County: | 34–10 | 22–6 | | | |
| Total: | Total: | 34–10 | | | | |
| National championship  Conference title  Conference division title or championship game berth |||||||