With the recent arrival of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, viewers are meeting the new housewives and their families and friends. That includes Jen Shah, who had quite a debut on the show and WWHL aftershow.
Once the episode premiered, viewers were searching for information about Jen Shah’s husband. He’s Sharrieff Shah, who is currently a coach with the University of Utah football team.
Here’s more insight into Jen’s husband who has also worked in several other professions, including the practice of law.
Jen met Sharrieff in college, converted to his religion
One of the big themes of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is Mormonism. Some of the Season 1 cast members embrace it, others are practicing the religion how they see it in this modern day.
There’s also Jen Shah, who isn’t Mormon at all but is part of her husband’s religion. She said she converted from Mormonism to Islam after meeting and marrying Sharrieff Shah.
After the show’s intro, viewers got more details about Jen Lui Shah, as her husband is preparing the family a great breakfast in their gorgeous home. He’s introduced as “Sharrieff aka Coach Shah” on the screen.
Viewers also meet the couple’s two children, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar Sharrieff Jr., the latter of whom played football at Utah from 2014-16 and lettered there.
Jen tells her story of originally being from Hawaii, and moving to Utah around the age of 6 or 7, saying she’s Tongan, and Hawaiian, and a “little bit of Chinese.” In Utah, she says they consider her Black, “because people don’t know any better.”
Jen then talks a bit about Sharrieff, admitting, “I think it takes a certain someone to be a coach’s wife.” She describes him as “5 am out the door and midnight at home.”
The couple also told the story of how they met, saying that it happened during college as they had a class together.
“I saw her, my heart stops immediately,” Sharrieff said during the first episode. He added that he walked up to where she was seated and asked if the seat near her was taken.
Sharrieff said Jen basically told him, “There’s nobody there, so I guess not” and that’s how they first met.
Sharrieff Shah is a former player and attorney, current coach
Born back on January 29, 1971, Sharrieff Shah is currently 49 years old. He’s part of the coaching staff for the University of Utah Utes college football team.
He specifically works as a coach for the team’s cornerbacks (defense). He’s been in that position for nine years now. Shah is also in his third year as the special teams coordinator.
Before he was ever a coach, Sharrieff played defense as a strong safety for the Utah Utes from 1990 through 1993. In addition to playing college football, he ran track, competing in the 60-yard dash and long jump for several years.
Unfortunately, he suffered a career-ending neck injury early in his senior season, which ended his football playing days.
He’d eventually go into law and worked for 12 years as a practicing attorney. Sharrieff began with Parsons, Biehle, & Latimer in 2001 as a commercial litigator. In 2006, he worked as a trial attorney with Siegfried & Jensen, the largest personal injury law firm in Utah. He spent five years there, per his Utah Utes bio.
Even as an attorney, Sharrieff remained connected to the game of football. That included gigs as a sideline reporter for Utah’s flagship radio station (ESPN 700) for nine years. He also worked as a sideline analyst for several local stations covering Utes’ games.
He ultimately joined the University of Utah coaching staff in 2011. In a 2019 video that Jen Shah shared on her Instagram page, Sharrieff talks about why he loves coaching where he played.
In addition to coaching and practicing law, Sharrieff has trained players for the NFL Combine- an annual event where college players can show their abilities to scouts and coaches ahead of the NFL Draft.
Sharrieff also worked as an agent for players in the NFL, CFL, and NFL Europe. In that capacity, he helped to broker multi-million dollar contracts and represent certain players. One of his high-profile clients is former NFL running back Karim Abdul Jabbar (now Abdul Karim-Al Jabbar).
Coach Sharrieff Shah will be featured among recurring RHOSLC cast members in Season 1. He also is active on his official @UteReef33 Twitter, often tweeting about football.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.