James Shibest

James John Shibest (born October 31, 1964) is an American football coach and former player. He is the special teams coordinator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), a position he has held since the 2023 season. Shibest served as the head football coach at Butler County Community College—now known as Butler Community College—from 1996 and 1999, leading the Grizzlies to two NJCAA National Football Championships. For most of his career, he has been a special teams coach. Shibest played college football at the University of Arkansas and briefly in the National Football League (NFL) as a replacement player during the 1987 strike.

Playing career
Shibest played wide receiver at Arkansas from 1983 to 1986. He earned All-Southwest Conference honors in 1984 and 1986. In high school, Shibest was a prep All-American at MacArthur High School in Houston. He also played one game in 1987 for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) as a replacement during that year's player strike.

Coaching career
Shibest began his coaching career as an offensive graduate assistant working with the running backs and wide receivers at Oklahoma State for the 1990 and 1991 football seasons. From Oklahoma State, Shibest moved on to Independence Community College, where he was the offensive coordinator in 1992, and the defensive backs coach in 1993. In 1994 and 1995, Shibest was the offensive coordinator for Garden City Community College.

In 1996, Shibest was hired at the head football coach at Butler County Community College—now known as Butler Community College. In four years, from 1996 to 1999, Shibest led the Grizzlies to two Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) titles and two NJCAA National Football Championships. He was twice named the KJCAA Coach of the year and also twice named the NJCAA Coach of the year.

In 2000, Shibest joined Houston Nutt's staff at Arkansas as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator. He also coached wide receivers during his tenure at Arkansas. In 2008, Shibest followed Nutt to Ole Miss as the tight ends and special teams coach. in 2012, he joined Justin Fuente's staff at Memphis in the same position. He then followed Fuente to Virginia Tech in 2016.

Personal life
Shibest and his wife, Dianna, have two children, James John III and Jordyn Grace.