Coach Shipley grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut, and graduated from Johnstown High School in Johnstown, New York. He graduated from Lyndon State College with a BS in physical education in 1986 and an AS in Business Administration in 1987.

As a student-athlete at LSC, coach Shipley competed in three different sports all four years and was named Athlete of the Year in 1985. Shipley was inducted into the LSC Hall of Fame in 2007.

Immediately after graduating coach Shipley taught physical education and coached at the Waynflete School in Portland, Maine for eight years. Immediately prior to coming to Castleton he coached baseball and basketball at Vermont Technical College for 4 years.

He earned a graduate degree in Kinesiology from the University of New Hampshire in 2001. He currently resides in Bomoseen, Vermont with wife, Michelle, and daughter, Olivia.

• 1999 Vermont Technical College 20 Win Season
• 1999 Vermont Technical College berth in NSCAA national tournament in Salinas, Kansas. Finished eighth place nationally, the first New England team to ever win two games in the tournament.
• Coached First Team All-American in 1999
• 2004 Castleton State College's first ever berth in the NCAA division III national tournament.
• Seeing the improvement of a group of players that stuck together through 3 tough years pay-off in 2004 with a trip to the NCAA tournament.
• Member of the Lyndon State College Hall of Fame