Jason Shumaker is in his first season with the Louisiana Tech football program as the Director of Recruiting.

Shumaker comes to Louisiana Tech after serving as the Senior Analyst for Special Teams at Utah State during the 2018 season. While at Utah State, the Aggies had dominant Special Teams as USU led the NCAA in Special Teams Touchdowns with 4 and Kickoff Return average with 30.3 (the 2^nd highest average in the past 20 seasons).

Shumaker also coached Savon Scarver, a consensus All-American at Kick Returner, and Dom Eberle, a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award (Nation’s best kicker). Utah State also finished in the Top 10 nationally in Blocked Kicks, Field Goals Made, and Blocked Kicks Allowed on their way to an 11-2 season and winning the New Mexico Bowl vs. North Texas.

Prior to Utah State, Shumaker spent from 2012-2017 at Idaho, where he served as the Vandals’ Running Backs Coach, Special Teams Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator.

Idaho’s Special Teams also excelled under Shumaker’s watch as the Vandals had a unit in the top-five of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) during the each of his last four seasons. All-American punter Austin Rehkow led the effort, as he became Idaho’s first four-time first-team all-conference choice. Shumaker also coached Cade Coffey at Idaho who was named a USA Today Freshman All-American after finishing ninth in the country in punting in 2017. 

Blocking punts became a trademark of Shumaker’s special teams as the Vandals were third in the FBS in that category in 2014 and were second in 2016. They were also the only team in the country to return two blocked punts for touchdowns in 2016.

Shumaker was also a part of winning Idaho’s third ever bowl game- the 2016 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, where they beat Colorado State 61-50.

Shumaker’s running backs also experienced great success- In 2015, running back Elijhaa Penny, who is entering his third season in the NFL with the New York Giants, became the first Vandal since 2007 to rush for 1,000 yards. In 2017, Aaron Duckworth also surpassed 1,000 yards and was named First Team All-Sun Belt Conference.

Shumaker joined the staff at Idaho after serving one year as Arkansas’ Director of High School Relations. Prior to joining the Razorbacks’ staff, he spent seven years at small colleges ranging from Eastern New Mexico to Midland University.   

Shumaker was hired as the head coach of Dana College in December of 2009 and served in that role until the school closed in June of 2010.

Prior to his time at Dana, he was at the University of Saint Mary at Leavenworth, Kan., for three seasons and was tabbed the 2008 KCAC Assistant Coach of the Year.

Shumaker went to USM from Eastern New Mexico, where he coached three All-Lone Star Conference players. Prior to his time at ENMU, he was a teacher and a coach at Rowlett, Texas.

Shumaker was born in Salina, Kan., and went to high school in Grand Prairie, Texas. From there, he attended Kansas, where he played fullback for the Jayhawks. He was a five-time Jayhawk Scholar and was on the Big XII Commissioner’s Honor Roll five times. Shumaker graduated from Kansas in 2003 with a degree in education and earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Eastern New Mexico University in 2007.

He is married to the former Kate Klepper. They have two children – a son, Davis (7), and a daughter, Elliette (6).