Derrick L. Shepard is an American former

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

and indoor football

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

. Shepard grew up in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, and attended Meadowdale High School. His football ability earned him a scholarship to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, where he participated in football for four years. After spending two years in training camps with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

, Shepard began playing

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

. He played for the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

and the

Detroit Fury The Detroit Fury were an arena football team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were a member of the original Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. The ...

, before playing his next 5 years in

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

with the

Tennessee Valley Vipers Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Cincinnati Swarm The Cincinnati Swarm was a professional arena football franchise based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were members of the Midwest Division of the National Conference of the af2. The Swarm joined the af2 as an expansion franchise in 2003 along with t ...

and the

Louisville Fire The Louisville Fire was an arena football team that played its home games at the Brown-Forman Field in Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. They were a 2001 expansion team of the af2. Their owner/operator was former Pro Bowl lineman and Loui ...

. After playing professionally for 9 years, Shepard became a coach of indoor football for the Miami Valley Silverbacks. He had been the Silverbacks Head Coach, as well as offensive and defensive line coach. In 2011, he led the Silverbacks to a .500 winning percentage, at the time a Silverbacks record.

Early life

He attended Meadowdale High School in

College career

Upon his graduation, Shepard received a scholarship to play football at

. Shepard

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during his first season for Head Coach,

Bill Lewis William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an England, English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson (artist), Char ...

. Shepard saw very little playing time under coach Lewis, who was fired after a 1–7 start to the 1994 season.

George O'Leary George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 20 ...

replaced Lewis for the remaining three games, which Shepard started all three. During his junior year, Shepard scored the first touchdown of his life at any level, when he recovered a fumble and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown, which turned out to be the game winning score in a 28–16 game versus N.C. State. His senior season he had one interception that he return 68 yards. After a 1997 game against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, Shepard was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week.

Statistics

Professional career

After not hearing his named called in the

1998 NFL draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

, Shepard signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

. In 1999, Shepard signed as a free agent with the

. He was waived on August 1, 1999. In 2000, Shepard tried his hand at

Arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

, signing with the

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

. He recorded 4.5 tackles, 1 sack and two pass breakups on the season. On April 11, 2001, Shepard was traded to the

for Kelvin Ingram. He played in just one game, recording a sack. He was waived on June 20, 2001. In 2002, Shepard played for the

of the

. In 2003, Shepard played with the

also of the af2. In 2004, Shepard joined the

, also of the af2. On August 11, 2004, Shepard scored the game-winning touchdown against the

Quad City Steamwheelers The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The team was founded on September 1, 1999, when the Quad Cities was ...

in a 53–48 game. He was a member of the Dayton Warbirds in 2006. In 2010, Shepard was an offensive and defensive line coach for the Miami Valley Silverbacks. His former teammate, Brian Wells was hired as the team's head coach in 2010, and he convinced Shepard to suit up for the Silverbacks. Shepard appeared in just a single game, recording one tackle on the season.

Coaching career

Miami Valley/Dayton Silverbacks

In 2008, Shepard was named the head coach of the Miami Valley Silverbacks for the 2009 season. The Silverbacks went 0-10 and decided they would not retain Shepard as head coach. In 2010, the Silverbacks hired a former teammate and coach of Shephard's in Brian Wells. Wells signed Shepard as a player for the Silverbacks, but after just one game, Shepard joined the coaching staff working with the offensive and defensive lines. In 2011, Shepard returned to the role of head coach for the Silverbacks, as they had found a new home at

Hara Arena Hara Arena was a 5,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Trotwood, Ohio suburb of Dayton. The facility began as a ballroom in 1957, added an arena in 1964 and grew to a six-building complex which closed in August 2016. At various times, it ...

. Shepard led the Silverbacks to a 5–5 record and earned the team their second-straight playoff berth. Their .500 winning percentage for the season was a Silverbacks record, until it was broken in 2012. Following the 2011 season, Shepard resigned as the Silverbacks head coach. In 2012, Shepard was once again the offensive and defensive line coach for the Silverbacks. He also received a role in the front office as the public relations director.

Dayton Wolfpack

On December 31, 2016, the

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. As of the end of the 2024 season, the league consisted of five teams. A team's typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, but as of the 2022 ...

announced Shepard would the first head coach their Dayton expansion team, the Dayton Wolfpack. However, the team would fail to secure a lease for a home arena in time for the season and travelling team based out of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, took on the mantle of the Wolfpack for the 2017 season and Shepard is no longer involved with the team.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Derrick 1975 births Living people American football defensive linemen Miami Dolphins players New England Patriots players Arizona Rattlers players Detroit Fury players Dayton Sharks players Cincinnati Swarm players Louisville Fire players Tennessee Valley Vipers players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Players of American football from Dayton, Ohio Continental Indoor Football League coaches National Arena League coaches Coaches of American football from Ohio