Тренер по нападениям Орегон Стет Митч Дahlen вернулся на родину и назвал работу в Корваллисе ежедневной ностальгией

Redmond native Mitch Dahlen’s dream job at OSU is ‘daily nostalgia’ Published 4:39 pm Wednesday, September 2, 2026 CORVALLIS — You would be hard-pressed to find a man more excited to work on a holiday weekend than Oregon State football’s offensive coordinator, Mitch Dahlen. And though the Beavers’ 2026 opener against No. 23 Houston will be played on the road, and over 2,000 miles from Corvallis’ Reser Stadium, Saturday’s kickoff is a homecoming of sorts for Dahlen. Simultaneously, it’s the culmination of the 33-year-old play-caller’s lifelong dream mixed with his wildest fantasies. After eight prior stops in his career as both a player and coach, Dahlen, a Redmond native, is back where it all started. The lifelong Beavers fan is home, and his morning drive to work is a constant reminder of that. “It’s a daily deal, my parent’s used to tailgate right outside… in that old gravel lot,” Dahlen said, gesturing to the Reser Stadium parking lot from within the stadium’s media room. “I drive by it every morning on the way in from my house. I look out the window (of my office) and see the seats I grew up in. “That’s the coolest part for me, there’s a daily nostalgia that centers me — I’m the same kid.” Dahlen family’s blood runs orange and black Dahlen grew up in Redmond, and orange and black has been in his blood since long before then. His father, Chris, played offensive line for the Beavers in the mid-1980s. His mother, Monica, is an Oregon State graduate; and his brother, Matt, played basketball at Oregon State under coach Wayne Tinkle from 2014 until 2017. Growing up, Dahlen says his family’s vacations were centered around Oregon State’s bowl games, and cited Mike Parker’s voice — Beaver football’s long-time radio play-by-play man — as the lullaby that put him to sleep as a kid on long drives home over the Santiam Pass from Reser Stadium. He’s something of a Beavers football historian, citing Oregon State’s 2008 upset of No. 1 USC in Corvallis and the 2001 Fiesta Bowl — when the Beavs throttled Nortre Dame — as his personal-favorite memories. “I had really bad bangs back in the day,” Dahlen said of the latter game. “So there’s a lot of really bad Fiesta Bowl pictures, (but) that was a great team.” Unlike his younger brother, Dahlen’s own path home was a longer, windier road. Eight jobs, six states and one journey home Dahlen was a prolific high school quarterback in his own right, twice earning all-Intermountain Conference honors after passing for 5,200 yards and 37 touchdowns at Redmond High School. But his football journey took him elsewhere, spending one season with the Utah Utes before transferring to Southern Utah. Dahlen transitioned into coaching shortly after graduating from SUU, getting his start at the NAIA level as the College of Idaho’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2016 — the same title he holds at Oregon State a decade later. In 2018, he joined Boise State’s staff as the assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coach, his first Division I job. He dropped back down to the DII level for 2019, running Black Hills State’s offense for a season before becoming Fresno State’s assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Dahlen followed the Bulldogs’ then-coach, Kalen DeBoer, from Fresno State to Washington (2022-23), and then on to Alabama (2024-25). He held the same title with the Huskies and Crimson Tide as he did with the Bulldogs. It was in Seattle where Dahlen met his now-boss, Beavers head coach JaMarcus Shephard, and followed him from Tuscaloosa all the way back to Corvallis. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Dahlen said. “It’s always been my dream job. Always has been, always will be.” Shephard himself said Monday that, even before their hiring at Oregon State, a return to Corvallis has long been on the mind of his offensive coordinator. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time, actually,” Shephard said. “Even before I stepped foot into the idea that I’d be here at Oregon State, he and I were having conversations about what it would be like for him to come back here and do this. So, I’m really excited from him, because I know he’s going to put his best foot forward for this institution. This is family to him.” Week 1 looms for Dahlen, Beavers offense Saturday’s matchup with No. 23 Houston marks Dahlen’s first game calling plays for an offense since 2019 at BHSU. The Beavers have kept a tight lid on what a Dahlen-led offense looks like since the staff’s arrival in December, but they’ve routinely emphasized a steady diet of tight-end involvement and recently named Mercer-transfer Braden Atkinson their starting quarterback. But for as excited as he is to be back home, Dahlen says he’s not losing sight of the thing he was hired to do — win football games. Football coaches with deep ties to Oregon State are nothing new to the program, and recent tradition has shown that bleeding orange and black won’t supersede poor on-field results. Dahlen said he’s focused on helping Oregon State win football games, no matter who they play. And should the Beavers win enough of them this fall, the first-year offensive coordinator will get to put a pleasant new spin on some of his favorite childhood memories. “That’s the coolest thing for me,” Dahlen said. “When we go bowling again, now I get to go for work instead of for a family vacation.”