Vanderbilt football is expected to promote assistant safeties coach Arion Shinaver to nickels coach, according to a report from Matt Zenitz of 247Sports.
He will replace Jimmy Thompson, who left for the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL.
Shinaver was a walk-on wide receiver at Notre Dame from 2016-19. He worked as a consultant at Deloitte before getting into coaching, first as a scouting intern, then as a graduate assistant before becoming the assistant safeties coach. He was in that role in 2024 and 2025.
The Commodores lost two assistants in the offseason in Thompson and Garrett Altman, the former quarterbacks coach who accepted a job as the offensive coordinator at Arkansas State. However, the core of the staff remains in place, including offensive coordinator Tim Beck and defensive coordinator Steve Gregory under coach Clark Lea.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
