Vestavia Hills native Jarred Brookins is living his best life in Corvallis, Oregon, 2,500 miles away from his hometown. In March, Brookins was named head coach of the Oregon State men’s soccer team, one of the top collegiate soccer programs in the country.
Brookins spent the last two years as an assistant under head coach Greg Dalby, who led the Beavers to their most successful season in program history, reaching the NCAA semi-finals in 2023. In early 2025, Dalby accepted the head coach position at Air Force, and, following an extensive search, Brookins was tapped for the top job. During his tenure as an assistant coach, Brookins found his coaching philosophy to be in sync with Dalby's, and he is looking forward to taking what they’ve built together to the next level.
“I was excited to work for Dalby,” Brookins says. "Over the past few years, my love and appreciation for this place and how I identify with it has grown immensely, and I couldn't be more honored to step into a new role here."
Brookins’ rise to the head coaching job at Oregon State wasn’t exactly scripted. Brookins played soccer at Vestavia Hills High School (VHHS) and Vestavia Soccer Club before moving on to play collegiate soccer under head coach Preston Goldfarb at Birmingham-Southern.
Brookins got his first taste of coaching as an assistant for VHHS during college, working under legendary head coach Rick Grammer in 2014. He was on the sidelines for one of the best seasons in VHHS soccer history, as the Rebels finished 25-2-1 and captured their second consecutive state championship.
After graduating from BSC, Brookins accepted his first head coaching position, leading a youth team with Vestavia Soccer Club, primarily as a diversion from his full-time job as a chemical analyst for Alabama Power. “Coaching was never really the plan,” Brookins admits.
“I decided to pick up a club soccer team on the side, and, basically, at the end of year one, I realized that I really loved coaching,” he adds, “I really didn't like working in a lab, and I had very little interest in going back to school.”
Brookins spent the next five years coaching for Vestavia Soccer Club, winning seven USYS Youth Soccer State Championships between 2014 and 2018, before moving on to assistant coaching gigs at the collegiate level, first at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and then at Davidson University in North Carolina. Now fully committed to the world of coaching, Brookins knew it was time to kick his career to the next level.
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Jarred Brookins played soccer for Vestavia Hills High School in the late 2000s.
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Jarred Brookins was an assistant coach on Vestavia Hills' 2014 team, when they won their second consecutive state championship.
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Jarred Brookins played soccer for Birmingham-Southern College from 2009-2011.
Brookins ended up in Corvallis, coaching under Dalby at one of the nation’s top programs. In the last five years, Oregon State has been an overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, advanced to an Elite 8 and a Final Four, and is only one of nine teams to compete in the last five NCAA tournaments. As he prepares for his first collegiate head coaching job, Brookins understands the goal is to score goals - lots of them.
"The expectation is to consistently compete nationally, and that's obviously a lot of pressure, but at the same time, that's why I wanted it," Brookins says. "That's why great players come here. They expect to compete at the highest level."
Brookins grew up in Vestavia Hills and is the son of Bart and Kathy Brookins, Senior Pastor and Family Pastor, respectively, at Fullness Christian Fellowship. Brookins and his wife Sarah have two children, Leo (7) and Sophie (5).