LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas football announced on Tuesday that Brandon Shelby has been named the Jayhawks’ defensive backs coach. Shelby joined KU in 2024 as an analyst following 13 seasons at Indiana.
“We’re excited to announce Brandon Shelby as our defensive backs coach,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “Brandon has a proven track record of developing and recruiting at a high level. He’s an experienced coach at the power-four level and did an excellent job this fall with our program and the development of our secondary. I am confident that he will do a great job in leading our defensive backs.”
Shelby has more than 18 years of coaching experience, following 13 years at Indiana. While at with the Hoosiers, Shelby served as Indiana’s assistant head coach/cornerbacks coach from 2021-23 and was a part of four bowl games in his time at Bloomington. Shelby was the fourth-longest tenured assistant coach in IU history, the longest-tenured cornerbacks coach in the Big Ten East, and the second-longest tenured assistant in the conference overall. Over his time in Bloomington, Shelby had four cornerbacks lead the league in pass breakups and three paced the conference in passes defended.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Coach Leipold for the opportunity to continue being a part of KU Football and contributing to such an exceptional program,” Shelby said. “As a member of the defensive staff, I’m excited to lead the secondary and mentor the student-athletes who proudly represent the crimson and blue. I’m eager to help build something truly remarkable here at KU. Let’s get to work – Rock Chalk!”
In 2020, Shelby coached Tiwan Mullen to become the first IU cornerback in program history to earn first team All-American honors. The Hoosiers led the conference and finished second nationally with 17 interceptions, eight of which were accounted for by cornerbacks.
Shelby served as Indiana’s cornerbacks coach from 2011-14 and 2016-20, coaching the secondary for one season in 2015. Prior to his time at Indiana, Shelby spent the 2010 season as cornerbacks coach at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
In 2009, Shelby coached the secondary at Portland State University and managed the defensive backs at the University of San Diego in 2008.
Shelby began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, as a defensive assistant in 2006. The Sooners won the Big 12 Championship and went on to play in the Fiesta Bowl that season. Shelby spent the 2007 campaign as a graduate assistant at the University of Arizona before moving on to San Diego.
Shelby participated in the inaugural Future Coaches Academy in San Antonio in January 2007, a workshop held in conjunction with the NCAA, American Football Coaches Association, the Black Coaches Association, and the National Football League. He also completed a Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship with the Houston Texans in June 2017.
Shelby was a standout defensive back at Oklahoma, where he participated in two BCS National Championship games and three-straight BCS bowl games. As a four-year letterman (2001-04), he earned both All-Big 12 honors and Academic All-Big 12 honors. In 2002, he tied a then-Oklahoma record with four sacks for a defensive back.