[2]: 159  His 1923–24 Tar Heels team finished the season with a 26–0 record[3] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.

Shepard attended the University of North Carolina and after graduating played minor league baseball for a time.

[6] Before becoming a head coach, Shepard spent three years abroad in France during World War I in the United States army as an artilleryman.

[7] Shepard decided to accept the head coaching job for the Tar Heels while planning to attend law school on the side.

[2][12] After coaching North Carolina for one season, Shepard went to the Far East to work as a sales manager for Liggett and Meyer tobacco company.