Shipley Returning to Texas Football in Director Role

Retirement did not last long for Bob Shipley, as he joined the Texas Longhorns Football staff this week.

Bob Shipley, the father of legacy Texas Football WRs Jordan and Jaxon Shipley, is joining Tom Herman’s coaching staff as the Director of High School Relations.

The elder Shipley just retired from high school football coaching after 32 years. In January, Shipley announced he was leaving Belton High School and he was “not sure what my next career will be.”

Two months later, Bob Shipley has a new football gig tapping into his experience as a high school coach. The goal is helping Tom Herman and the Texas Longhorns build those important high school relationships in the state.

In the official announcement, Herman talked about Bob Shipley bring valuable experience to the program. Meanwhile, Shipley said he bought into Tom Herman’s vision as soon as he met him for the first time.

"“We’re so lucky to have Bob joining our staff. He’s obviously well known here, but also is highly respected in the high school communities across this state and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our director of high school relations position. He’s a guy I’ve known about and respected for a long time, and he will be an invaluable resource for our program. We’re thrilled to have him on board.” – Tom Herman statement at TexasSports.com"

"“I was really excited when Coach Herman called, I had never met him before. When I came up and visited with him, the passion he had was really obvious. The plan he set out to me and the staff he has put together are both incredible. It’s funny, you work your whole life trying to force things to happen that you’d like to happen, and this is something that he just called me out of the blue, and it’s my dream job. That rarely happens in life. It wasn’t a decision I had to think about very long.” – Bob Shipley statement"

Bob Shipley’s Take Two with Texas Football

This will be the second stint for Bob Shipley in the Texas Football program. In 2013, Shipley joined Mack Brown’s staff as a football analyst while Jaxon was a junior at Texas.

Unfortunately, things changed after the 2013 season when Mack Brown exited and Charlie Strong became head coach in 2014.

After 2013, Bob Shipley went back to coaching high school football until he retired in January.

In recent weeks, Tom Herman started showing interest in Shipley by regularly re-tweeting his posts. That led to a conversation and now a new role for Shipley in Austin.

Bob hopes to be part of something special at Texas, like what his sons Jaxon and Jordan experienced during their run of eight seasons in Austin.

"“I have a lot of passion for this program, this school and what it’s done for my family. My two loves are University of Texas football and Texas high school football, so to be able to blend those together and be an ambassador for Coach Herman, this program and The University to the high school coaches throughout the state and the country, it’s going to be a lot of fun for me.” – Bob Shipley"

Shipley Family Already Starting On Next Generation Texas Longhorns

Who knows how long Bob Shipley will be part of the Texas Longhorns coaching staff. But, he has the opportunity to lay the foundation for the next generation of Shipley football players.

Jaxon Shipley’s one-year-old son, Stone Mac (yeah, that’s a pretty sweet name), joined the Shipleys at DKR Memorial Stadium as part of Bob’s hiring. You can never start them too young when it comes to the Longhorns.

We fully expect to see Stone Mac jerseys flying off the shelves around 2035. Tom Herman would be 60-years-old and entering Darrell Royal territory of coaching length at Texas.

Next: The #1 Reason Why Texas Fired Strong & Hired Herman

That’s a long time from now, so we’ll start small with Bob Shipley rejoining the Texas Longhorns program in Tom Herman’s first year as head football coach to hopefully form a successful partnership.