With Mitch Dahlen, it’s a Beaver born, a Beaver bred
Mitch Dahlen calls being Oregon State’s offensive coordinator his “dream job”
CORVALLIS — Initial impression of Mitch Dahlen after a reporter’s first meeting with Oregon State’s offensive coordinator:
Young. Personable. Bright. Gifted. A relationship-builder. A sponge who has eagerly absorbed knowledge from the good coaches he has been around. And busting at the seams for the opportunity ahead of him.
None of the members of JaMarcus Shephard’s first OSU coaching staff is more appreciative of his position than Dahlen, who is truly a Beaver born and a Beaver bred.
“It’s in my blood,” he told me Wednesday. “I don’t know if I have a choice.”
Mitch’s father, Chris Dahlen, was an offensive tackle at Oregon State from 1982-86.
His mother, Monica, also attended OSU. Brother Matt was on the Beavers’ basketball team from 2015-17.
“We had (football) season tickets for a lot of years,” Mitch says. “We have family pictures taken (during games) at old Parker Stadium when I was a little kid. Family vacations were planned around Beaver bowl games. Oregon State has been my whole life, really.”
On his trip from home to the Valley Football Center these days, “There is a daily nostalgia,” he told members of the media Wednesday. “My parents used to tailgate. I drive by (that spot) on the way from my house. I look out the (office) window to the seats we had in the stadium. Today I am still the same kid, just a little taller, and I scream a little more. When we go bowling again, now I will get to go for work.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. It’s my dream job. Always has been, always will be.”
If that sounds like something a new coach is supposed to say, well, I get it. But I also get the impression that Dahlen’s enthusiasm is genuine.
Dahlen is at Oregon State because of his relationship with Shephard, with whom he coached for four years — two at Washington, the last two at Alabama. Already, he has impressed Shephard by the way he has meshed with his coaching cohorts and the players on the offensive side of the ball.
“Mitch is very cognizant of the people in the building,” Shephard told me. “He does an outstanding job of putting himself out there for everybody to have an opportunity to get to know him. He challenges everybody on the staff. It has been cool to see some guys he didn’t know, and now they are getting to know him, and they are accepting the challenges he has for them, and vice versa.
“He has done a great job of helping the offense grow quickly. We put a lot on our players, give them a lot of information they have to absorb. He has done a good job managing the fact that a lot of (the offensive players) haven’t played a lot of football. Now is an opportunity for them to showcase what they are capable of doing. They have to go on the field and play smart. He has helped these guys become smarter players.”
When I asked Dahlen how it came about that Shephard offered him the O-coordinator job, the answer turned into an ode to a coach he clearly admires.
“I work for the best head coach in the country,” Dahlen said. “I don’t think there is a No. 2. Coach Shep is 1, 2 and 3. He is an energetic guy. Players want to play for him; coaches want to coach with him, recruit for him. All the people with offices down this hallway are here because of Coach Shep. They all came here to work for him. Donors want to give him money. He is truly rare in this business. I get to work for a person I care a lot about.
“He was a (de facto) head coach before he has been in that fancy office in the corner for awhile — he just hasn’t had the title. He presents himself that way. He carries himself that way. He has had opportunities for other head jobs. When those opportunities came up, there were conversations (about Dahlen joining his staff). It was lucky this time that it was at a place I care about. I know I am biased, but I feel he held out for the right job.”
If that sounds like brown-nosing, well, I get it. But again, I believe these are sentiments that Dahlen truly believes. And that is a good way for him to start out a job that is sure to have many challenges along the way.
Before he was a coach, Dahlen was a player, and a good one, at least at the high school level. He played quarterback his sophomore year at Redmond High under Oregon prep coaching legend Craig Ruecker, then for Dan Elliott his final two seasons, twice earning All-Intermountain Conference while passing for nearly 5,200 yards and 37 touchdowns.
Oregon State recruited him a little, but coach Mike Riley had zeroed in on another QB from the high school ranks that year — Sean Mannion. Dahlen signed with Utah, redshirted and then transferred to FCS Southern Utah. He suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him for his first season there, which led to an unofficial start to his coaching career at age 19.
“I was still on scholarship, and we didn’t have a (grad assistant) on offense, so I started helping out,” he said. That was the end of his playing career. Dahlen served as assistant quarterbacks coach in Cedar City in 2013 and ’14.
Dahlen spent two years (2016 and ’17) as offensive coordinator at NAIA College of Idaho, then moved to Boise State in 2018, where as a GA he worked with quarterbacks and receivers under head coach Bryan Harsin. He spent a year as O-coordinator at Division II Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D., then got a big break thanks to Lee Marks, now his colleague as running backs coach at Oregon State. Marks, who worked with Dahlen at Boise State, had moved to Fresno State to serve under head coach Kalen DeBoer.
“I owe my career to Coach Marks,” Dahlen said. “A week before the start of the (2020) season, he called and said, ‘We have an offensive analyst job open, working with the quarterbacks. Do you want to do it?’ I said, ‘Uh, sure!’ ”
Dahlen wound up working six seasons under DeBoer as assistant O-coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach — two each at Fresno State (2020 and ’21), Washington (2022 and ’23) and Alabama (2024 and ’25). During five of those seasons, he worked with O-coordinator Ryan Grubb, who spent the 2024 season in that capacity with the Seattle Seahawks. Also on the offensive staffs at Washington and Alabama was Shephard, who served as assistant head coach while coaching wide receivers. DeBoer, Grubb and Shephard became the major influences for Dahlen in his coaching career.
“I learned from their football minds, seeing how they operate and the aggressiveness they coach with,” Dahlen said. “Coach Shep and myself, we are aggressive. If we are going down, we are going down swinging. We are going to push the envelope. The players respond to that. You get some energy from the players when they feel that from us.”
The collective record of Dahlen’s teams during those six seasons at Fresno State, Washington and Alabama, including the pandemic-truncated 2020 campaign, was 58-17, with five straight bowl game appearances. In 2023, the Huskies went 14-1, losing to Michigan 34-13 in the national championship game.
“That was a special memory, but those times at College of Idaho meant something, too,” Dahlen said. “It is a lot about the people you are with and the relationships you build.”
At Washington, Dahlen coached quarterback Michael Penix, runner-up to LSU’s Jayden Daniels for the Heisman Trophy in ’23.
“His (field) vision was unbelievable,” Dahlen said. “He was able to see outside the numbers (to receivers near the sidelines) better than any quarterback I have been around. He was a smooth lefty. He made it look easy.”
During those six years, Dahlen worked with four future NFL QBs: Penix (Atlanta Falcons), Jake Haener (Fresno State/Washington, New York Giants), Jalen Milroe (Alabama, Seahawks) and Ty Simpson (Alabama, LA Rams).
“They all had their strengths,” Dahlen said. “All four of those guys are drastically different as quarterbacks, which actually helped me be a better coach. It was like, ‘This works for this guy, but it doesn’t work for the next guy. How do we keep evolving?’ That’s what it is all about.”
Last season, Alabama finished 11-4 overall and 7-1 in SEC play, ranking ninth in the final AP poll. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 in a first-round CFP game, then got drilled 38-3 by Indiana in the Rose Bowl. The Tide averaged 263.5 yards passing and 104.1 yards rushing, with Simpson throwing for 3,567 yards and 28 TDs with five interceptions. Four running backs combined for 1,152 yards and 14 scores.
Dahlen said his “first full-circle moment” came late in the ’23 campaign when No. 2-ranked Washington invaded Corvallis to face Jonathan Smith’s Beavers, who were 8-2 and ranked No. 10 at the time. The Huskies prevailed 22-20.
“The most rain I can ever remember at a game, but nobody left,” Dahlen said. “(Reser Stadium) was packed and loud. That’s what I love about Corvallis. It has an SEC feel to it — a small town with a fan base that shows up on game day.”
Dahlen was attending Beaver games with his family when he was knee-high to a grasshopper
Dahlen grew up with the old Pac-12 and said he is “super excited” to be part of the first season of the new conference. I was pleased to hear him express appreciation for the Pac-12’s regional emphasis and disdain for the lack of it in the Power Four conferences.
“Look at how crazy the Big Ten is now,” he said. “With schools like Boise and Fresno and San Diego State and Washington State, we have regional rivalries. There is history there. To me, that is what you want. You don’t want the one-off, cross country trips, like Washington traveling to Rutgers.
“It hurt to see the league break up. I am a Pac-12 guy. I truly still believe in West Coast football. That’s what is exciting to me as we start the new league — a good tradition of successful football.”
Dahlen called plays while at College of Idaho and Black Hills State, but not since then.
“But I have been in the press box for all but one game of my career — when Coach Marks was acting head coach at Fresno for the New Mexico Bowl (in 2021, after DeBoer left for Washington),” he said. “I love it up there. As a play-caller, you take the emotion out of it. No receivers can come at you with ‘Hey, get me the ball.’ You get the best view and call the best plays for the kids. The assistant coaches give you the temperature on the sidelines to help with the decisions.”
Dahlen intends to operate primarily out of the shotgun with what he calls a “pretty balanced” offensive attack.
“I am big on explosive plays and eliminating negative plays (such as pre-snap penalties like false starts, tackles-for-loss, dropped passes),” he said. “We have a 16 percent rule. We want 16 percent of our plays to be explosive (16 yards or more via the pass, 12 yards or more via the run). If we have 100 plays, we want at least 16 explosive ones.”
Marks is the veteran of Dahlen’s offensive staff at OSU, which includes Ryan Wallace (tight ends), Kirk Barron (line) and James Finley (receivers). Dahlen likes the collective pedigree.
“Coach Marks’ track record with running backs is incredible,” Dahlen said. “He has so many guys in the NFL for a reason. Coach Wallace is a super offensive mind. He is very sharp, has worked with good coaches. I have known Coach Barron for the last two years. He has been around a lot of good offensive linemen and coaches and has more O-line (NFL) first-rounders than I have quarterbacks. He knows what the mentality needs to be, which is almost more important than physical traits. Coach Finley is solid, energetic and has been around some good receivers.”
This week, Shephard announced Braden Atkinson as the starting quarterback. The 6-1, 210-pound sophomore transferred to OSU in January from Mercer (in Macon, Ga.), where he won the Jerry Rice Award as the nation’s top FCS freshman in 2025.
A week earlier, Shephard declared it was a three-way battle between Atkinson, incumbent Maalik Murphy and Brady Jones, a transfer from Western Michigan. My inclination is, that’s the way OSU coaches were leaning all along.
“The other two guys were pushing him the whole way,” Dahlen told the media on Wednesday. Last Saturday’s scrimmage “was the separator. He takes care of the ball, and the ball just moves. He is able to move the ball down the field.”
Dahlen first laid eyes on Atkinson late last season when he watched video of the Auburn-Mercer game the week before the Iron Bowl matchup. Atkinson was 20 for 33 passing for 210 yards and a TD with two interceptions in a game that Auburn won 62-17. But the halftime score was 35-17, and Atkinson was “just chucking it in that tough environment,” Dahlen said. “He didn’t flinch. He is sitting with an FCS offensive line against an SEC defensive line, and he is hanging in there and getting the ball out. He had my respect.”
Atkinson just turned 19 in July, “but he is an old soul,” Dahlen says. Like the coach, Atkinson is a football junkie. “He has a lot of football knowledge, which I love,” the coach said.
Later, Dahlen told me this: “Braden is just wired right. He is not going to be in an environment that freaks him out. He played at Auburn and in the FCS playoffs. He is going to be calm. Our environment at home when it is rocking is special, and he is not going to get too high. He leads one by one. He’s not a ‘Johnny Rah Rah’ type of guy, but he is going to hit every single guy individually, and that’s how he does it. It fits him. He does it his own way, which is cool.”
A year ago, with Murphy at the helm, the quarterback run was nearly non-existent. That won’t be the case this season.
“The quarterbacks have to run,” Dahlen said. “It is about game management. It might be third-and-four and (the QB is) waiting for the receiver to get open and it doesn’t happen. Well, just go get it with your legs. That’s the thing at that position. You can’t not (run).
“There are going to be three or four plays a game you have to make something happen with your feet, whether it is moving in the pocket or going to get it with your legs. We need a first down and a new set of chains. That is not an option. It has to happen.”
The Beavers will have what they call “scramble rules.”
“On most called plays, it is going to be a scramble drill,” Dahlen said. “The quarterback is going to escape the pocket and find that second (option). We talk about finding the soft spots in the defense. He is going to sprint out of there, and the receivers are going to be sprinting to spots. The guy who separates the fastest is probably going to get the ball thrown to him.”
Dahlen says OSU coaches want to shock fans with how hard the Beavers play
Atkinson, said Dahlen, can run. I am told that the best runner of the QBs, however, is Jones, an athletic 6-4, 210-pound senior transfer from Western Michigan. Don’t be surprised if he serves as Atkinson’s backup ahead of Murphy to start the season.
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The starting running back will be AJ Newberry, a 6-1, 210-pound senior transfer from Vanderbilt. His backup will be 6-foot, 210-pound sophomore Cornell Hatcher.
“AJ is a home run hitter,” Dahlen said. “He has the ability once he gets in space to take it the whole way. A lot of times you see running backs get in open space and get you 40 but they won’t get you 70. He can get you 70. He can go, go, go. Hatcher is solid. He plays hard, and the thing I like about him most is he goes downhill. (Redshirt freshman) Kourdey Glass had a great camp. (Senior) Jake Reichle is dependable, and he plays so hard. You want to reward the guys who play their asses off.”
Seniors Eric Olson, DeCorian Temple and Gabe Milbourn lead a tight end unit that is “very deep and explosive,” Dahlen said.
Cody Siegner, the 6-7, 255-pound redshirt freshman from Crane in rural southeastern Oregon, “had a great camp,” said Dahlen, adding with a laugh, “I’m biased. I’m going to claim him as a central Oregon kid. The tight end crew is a strength.”
Eddie Freauff is legitimately a central Oregon kid, a 6-4, 220-pound sophomore from Prineville and the most experienced of the wide receivers. He is idled now, however, with an undisclosed injury and might miss the Beavers’ Sept. 5 opener at Houston.
Atkinson’s wideout targets will include Aeryn Hampton, a 5-10, 195-pound sophomore transfer from Alabama, and 5-10, 170-pound Jesse Legree.
“Jesse is going to help us,” Dahlen said. “He is not wide-eyed about this thing, and he can roll. Our receivers are fast and hungry. Our tight ends are dependable. That is a great mix for the quarterback.”
Unless center Van Wells regains eligibility for the season, depth at the offensive line will be an issue. Dahlen said that is the case in most FBS programs.
“The biggest epidemic in college football right now is the O-line,” he said. “The depth and the development in that room in our sport has just dwindled. Even at Alabama we were complaining about depth. You want (O-linemen) to develop three years in your system, but nope, it’s one year here, one year somewhere else; new calls, new footwork.
“That has been the hardest piece at that position for us. Most teams have five guys they can count on. I want seven or eight. We are getting closer to that number. We hired Coach Barron because he is a technician coaching the position. He is detailed on footwork and aggression. Violence will be celebrated in that room specifically, and every block from a receiver that leads to a touchdown, we will point it out in a unit meeting.”
When I asked Dahlen about offensive goals, he had a lot to say.
“You are probably looking at 12 possessions a game,” he began. “Shoot, I want to score on every single one of them, but if you are hitting on half of those, you are at 42 points a game. I tell our guys, I want points, but if we are in a game and it’s 8-7 and we need a field goal to win it, it’s plus two.
“To me, the important thing is, can we be competitive every single snap, and how hard can we play? I want to shock people with how hard we play and with our relentless playing style. I want them to turn on the TV and think, ‘Holy s**t, these guys play hard.’ If that is happening, you are probably finding success on the field. That is a reflection on us as coaches. If they are going to play hard, they probably like you. They want to do right by you.”
Dahlen sounds as if he will give Atkinson plenty of leeway to call audibles, or at least to make ad-lib decisions.
“We have to move the ball forward,” he said. “I tell the quarterback, ‘If we are calling shot plays and you don’t love it, go get me five (yards). Second-and-10 is a passing down. Second-and-five is entirely open. If you keep me in base down, (the opponent has) to honor the run and pass, so the whole playbook is open.’
“That is where (the opponent has) to honor my aggression. If we call a shot play and you get eight yards and it’s second-and-two, great. If we are calling something and you don’t love it, find us four or five yards. The quarterback and I have to be on the same page about what aggression is. There is a difference between aggressive and stupid.”
Dahlen said he has also drawn off the experience of veteran defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, the former head coach at San Jose State, Colorado and Florida International.
https://www.kerryeggers.com/stories/2026/mac-is-back-in-the-pac-12-this-time-at-oregon-state
“Coach McIntyre has been awesome,” Dahlen said. “He has been coaching football longer than I have been on this earth. I don’t know how you don’t learn from a guy like that. He has been super helpful.”
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Oregon State’s opener at Houston is little more than a week away.
“We are getting close to game week,” Dahlen said. “We get to hit somebody wearing another color, which will be fun. The players are eager to be coached and pushed and held accountable. That has been fun, too. We set the bar (and say jump), and they say, ‘how high?’ ”
Dahlen is getting settled in his new hometown. He is single but the father to 16-month-old son Dash, who lives in Corvallis. Now he is coaching at the place he said he has always wanted to be.
“I love it here,” he said. “I have the best job. I love coaching these kids. I have had NFL stuff come up every year, but I can’t impact a 35-year-old player the way I can a 20-year-old. I am exactly where I should be here. I am at a place that I care about. I know the buildings on campus. I know where the library is. I know where the MU is. Walking around campus and seeing all those buildings I know so well makes me feel good.”
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