Jocelyn Stephens

Purdue Athletics welcomed Jocelyn Stephens as the Boilermakers' head cheerleading coach and spirit coordinator in May 2022.   Stephens joined up with the Old Gold & Black after five seasons as head cheer coach and spirit program coordinator at Texas State. Her tenure saw the Bobcats regularly advance cheer teams at Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) College Nationals, including a third-place national finish for the school's group stunt team in 2022 for the highest finish in the category in school history.   In total for the 2022 UCA event, Texas State qualified its all-girl team and all-girl group stunt, with the all-girl team finishing in 10th-place in the D1A division.   In 2021, Stephens and the Bobcats took the all-girl and coed game day teams to UCA College Nationals, as well as the school's mascot, Boko, who made a return to the mascot division in the UCA College Virtual Championship. Boko placed second and Texas State's game day team finished in sixth place. The all-girl team placed third in the nation. Additionally, the Bobcats' all-girl partner stunt group qualified for NCA College Nationals.   Texas State qualified to compete in three categories at the 2020 UCA College Nationals: all-girl group stunt, all-girl D1A and coed D1A game day. At the time, competing in the game day division was a program first, and the coed team was also appearing at UCA Nationals for the first time since 2011. The game day squad was a combination of coed and all-girl members and Boko, placing eighth in the nation. The all-girl group stunt was ranked seventh in the nation while in Orlando. The group also qualified for NCA College Nationals, a program first.   In 2019, Stephens led Texas State's all-girl squad to UCA College Nationals. The group's semifinals routine secured a spot in the Top 10 of the competition, moving them through to the finals for the first time in 10 years. In the final competition, the all-girl squad was ranked ninth in the nation in one of the event's most competitive divisions.   Prior to her time at Texas State, Stephens served as head cheer coach at Drexel from 2016-17.   A South Jersey native, Stephens has been in the cheerleading industry for more than 15 years. She served as an instructor for UCA for eight years and was involved with core staff, college staff and international staff. Her involvement with UCA allowed her to travel internationally and across the United States for coaching conferences and camps to introduce the most up-to-date skills, knowledge and values of cheerleading and spirit leading. Stephens has also judged multiple regional and national competitions for all-star and high school cheerleading.   Stephens graduated from Morehead State University in May 2016 with a Bachelor's in Strategic Communication and Leadership. During her four years at MSU, she was a member of the all-girl cheerleading team. Stephens was part of the first all-girl three-peat for Morehead State, with the group winning back-to-back-to-back UCA College National Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Stephens was also a selected member of the USA National Team in 2015 and 2016, claiming two gold medals in the all-girl premier division at the International Cheer Union Championship.