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Mike Shepard Leaving Oklahoma Coaching Staff

Lon Kruger's long-time aide was retained by Porter Moser, but he'll take an AD job at Oklahoma City's Casady School.
John E. Hoover|
Mike Shepard Leaving Oklahoma Coaching Staff
Mike Shepard Leaving Oklahoma Coaching Staff

Porter Moser’s staff took a hit on Thursday.

Mike Shepard, OU’s director of basketball operations in Moser’s first year in charge, was announced as the new athletic director at Casady School.

Shepard will take over his new duties on Jan. 1. Casady is a private prep school in Oklahoma City.

“In adding Mike to our team, we gain a proven and established leader who will preserve and restore the rich tradition of athletic excellence through executing a program that will build and attract talented student athletes,” said Nathan L. Sheldon, Head of Casady School, in a statement.

“Mike sees teamwork, individual sacrifice, integrity, character, sportsmanship, and the development of the whole athlete as foundational to a student-athlete’s success.” 

Shepherd came to OU in 2012 and in many ways was Lon Kruger’s right-hand man, as he handles many elements of scheduling, transportation and logistics around the program.

He also worked in various capacities — including as a coach — with Kruger at Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV, and the with Atlanta Hawks, the latter as a scout.

Shepard was a student manager at K-State when Kruger was the head coach at his alma mater. Shepard helped coach the University of Tulsa women’s basketball team in 1999-2000.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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