Jess Loepp joined the SMU coaching staff as secondary coach in 2015 after totaling eight years over three stints at Tulsa. Prior to coming to the Hilltop, Loepp coached safeties and served as recruiting coordinator for the Golden Hurricane.
In 2016, SMU's defense was statistically one of the 10 most-improved in college football. The Mustangs ranked seventh nationally in interceptions per game, and Loepp's secondary was responsible for 16 of the 18 picks. Following the season, defensive backs Darrion Millines and Horace Richardson, who each ranked in the top 15 for interceptions in 2016, were named first-team All-Conference.
Loepp spent his first three seasons at Tulsa as a graduate assistant coach (2003-05), one year as the Director of High School Relations (2009) and six years as a full-time assistant coach (2007, 2010-2014).
During his tenure with the Hurricane, Loepp was part of six bowl games - 2003 Humanitarian Bowl, 2005 and 2012 AutoZone Liberty Bowls, 2008 GMAC Bowl, 2010 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl and the 2011 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. He has also been a part of Tulsa's two Conference USA Championship seasons in 2005 and 2012.
Under Loepp's tutelage, Dexter McCoil became the school's career-leader for interceptions in 2012 and along with fellow safety Demarco Nelson earned all-conference accolades. In 2011, the Tulsa defense ranked 12th nationally for interceptions and 25th for turnovers gained. In 2010, Tulsa ranked first in NCAA statistics for interceptions with 24 pickoffs, second in turnover margin and third in turnovers gained.
In 2009, Loepp returned to Tulsa and served as the school's Director of High School Relations.
Before returning to Tulsa, Loepp was an assistant football coach and strength coordinator at Lake Travis High School in Texas during the 2008 campaign. He helped lead that team to the Class 4A Division I State Championship, a 16-0 record and a top-10 ranking in most national prep polls, with the highest being second nationally.
In 2007, Loepp was in his second stint with the Hurricane, while coaching safeties and serving as Tulsa's recruiting coordinator. He helped Tulsa post a 10-4 record, reach the Conference USA Championship game and win the GMAC Bowl.
Loepp spent the 2006 season as an assistant coach at Rice, where he coached the Owls safeties and served as recruiting coordinator. At Rice, he helped coach a team that made a bowl game appearance for the first time in 45 years.
Loepp first came to Tulsa in 2003 when he served as a defensive graduate assistant coach for three years.
Before his first stint at Tulsa, Loepp held his first coaching position at the Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid, Oklahoma, as a volunteer assistant coach. He coached the linebackers and receivers. Loepp attended the University of Central Oklahoma and was an All-Lone Star Conference performer at linebacker. He helped UCO win league titles in 1998 and '99. He earned his bachelor's degree at UCO in 2000 and completed his graduate work at Tulsa in 2005.
He and his wife, Kelly Lynn, have two sons, Easton and Brooks.
