Exclusive: Vanderbilt Football's Bob Shoop Will Have Full Circle Moment With Son Jay as Vanderbilt Faces Ole Miss
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NASHVILLE—Bob Shoop hasn’t thought much about what Saturday will be like for him emotionally and declares that it won't be much different than any other game for him, but he admits that he’ll stop to commemorate the day for a second.
Shoop has already asked a Vanderbilt staffer to take a picture of him and his son Jay before Vanderbilt’s matchup with Ole Miss, and has big plans for where that image will go. It’s a no-brainer for him that he’ll put it somewhere in his house. He believes Jay will, as well.
For the first time, Bob and Jay Shoop will coach against each other on Saturday–Bob as a senior defensive analyst on Vanderbilt’s staff and Jay as Ole Miss’ inside linebackers coach. As much as Bob doesn’t want to make Saturday about him, he can’t help but reflect on its magnitude.
“I want it forever and ever as a keepsake for our family,” Shoop told Vandy on SI in regard to the photo. "It's just, who knows if and when that will ever happen again. I think it’s kind of a cool something to have forever.”
Jay’s career has ascended quickly and taken him to Oxford, but he still recalls some of his fondest football memories coming while his dad was Vanderbilt’s defensive coordinator in 2011-2013. When he watches Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy play catch with the children of Ole Miss coaches, he thinks back to when he did the same with former Vanderbilt stars Jordan Matthews and Jordan Rodgers.
Rodgers often calls Ole Miss games on TV these days, which always opens the door for Jay to remind him of the day in 2012 when Rodgers threw a late touchdown to beat Ole Miss in Oxford. Jay also recalls Vanderbilt beating Tennessee and ending a long Tennessee winning streak and Vanderbilt playing in three games as standout memories from his childhood. More than anything, though, he remembers interacting with the players like Matthews and Rodgers–who he looked up to as role models as a kid.
As Jay looks back, he recalls how lucky he was to spend every fall Saturday as a kid at a college football game. His dad never forced him to become a coach–as evidenced by his brother’s career as a professional wrestler–but Jay always had intentions of becoming a coach. Now, he declares that he’s living his dream every day and will have the most full-circle moment of his professional career as he returns home to Nashville on Saturday.
“It’s an awesome opportunity and a really cool experience to compete against him,” Jay Shoop said. “I think it will obviously be very special. He’s obviously the greatest role model in my life in terms of the profession that I decided to enter in and as a person–as a husband, he’s obviously taught me the right way to treat my wife. Everything he’s done for me as my father growing up, I’m super appreciative for. I couldn’t have asked for a better dad, a better upbringing.”
Bob and Jay Shoop still talk nearly every day despite their distance, but they’ve opted to limit their contact–particularly their football-related contact–leading into Saturday. They both say that the only texts they’ve sent throughout the week have related to the Nashville Predators overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leaves, which ended with one sending the other a text that merely read Auston Matthews, and this story. Both of them acknowledge that it’s been odd, but they believe duty calls. They both indicate that they look forward to Sunday, when their normal relationship can resume.
Bob wants Ole Miss to win every game that doesn’t involve Vanderbilt. Jay wants Vanderbilt to win every game that doesn’t involve Ole Miss. But, each of them have to look out for their programs this week. Business is business, Bob declares with the experience of coaching against his brother in 2010–when he was the defensive coordinator of William and Mary and his brother was North Carolina’s offensive coordinator.
As for Bob’s wife and Jay’s mother, Maura, it’s not quite as simple. She’ll be watching the game from home, torn in regard to what she wants to happen. Bob and Jay both came to the conclusion that she’ll be rooting for a low-scoring affair of some sort–more specifically, a 2-0 finish, Jay says. Jay will have a large section of friends in the crowd and is looking to give Ole Miss a home-field advantage of sorts at FirstBank Stadium, though. Bob will obviously have his fair share of supporters in the crowd by nature of his long-time run at Vanderbilt, as well.
When both Shoops look up to the FirstBank Stadium stands on Saturday, they’ll likely remember all the good times–when Bob was running the defense of some of Vanderbilt’s most successful teams in recent memory and Jay was falling in love with football as a kid. Now, they’ll make a memory as meaningful as any that they’ve made in this place over the years, one that makes all their sacrifices worth it and will gratify the way they’ve lived for all of Jay Shoop’s life.
“Football’s been a big part of our life and our lifestyle,” Bob Shoop said, “It’s not just a job for us, it’s a way of life.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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