TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati has announced the hiring of Mark Campbell as Head Women’s Basketball Coach.
Campbell, who becomes the eighth head coach in TCU’s women’s basketball history, served the last two seasons as head coach at Sacramento State. He was previously an assistant coach for seven years at Oregon where he brought in some of the nation’s top recruiting classes, including a No. 1 ranking in 2020. His recruiting efforts with the Ducks included unanimous national player of the year and WNBA No. 1 draft pick Sabrina Ionescu.
Campbell led Sacramento State to a school record 25 wins this season and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The Hornets won a share of their first Big Sky regular season championship and first Big Sky Tournament title. The 25 victories marked the first 20-win season in program history and were also the most ever by a Sacramento State men’s or women’s basketball team.
“We are very excited to welcome Mark and his family to TCU,” Donati said. “Mark is an elite recruiter and program builder who has taken part in two of the nation’s most remarkable women’s basketball turnarounds. He made an immediate impact at Sacramento State, leading them to a school record 25 wins and their first NCAA Tournament appearance in just his second season. As Oregon’s lead recruiter, he played a major role in their classes annually ranking at or near the top of the country. Similar to his success at Sacramento State, he was instrumental in Oregon quickly becoming one of the nation’s most successful programs, reaching their first NCAA Elite Eight and then Final Four. Mark is also a specialist in development of his student-athletes, having coached 11 WNBA players. His vision for women’s basketball at TCU mirrors the high expectations we have for all our sports to be successful and compete on the national level. Mark is the perfect fit for us and will be an outstanding member of our campus and Fort Worth communities.”
After inheriting a 3-22 team, it took Campbell just two seasons to take the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament. Sacramento State’s 14 wins in its first season under Campbell, marking an 11-game improvement, tied for the nation’s seventh-best turnaround.
During his two years with Sacramento State, in which he had a 39-24 record, Campbell coached four players to All-Big Sky honors. Included in that total were Conference Most Valuable Players Lianna Tillman in 2021-22, the first Hornet to win the honor in the program’s history, and Kahlaijah Dean in 2022-23. The Hornets also had the Big Sky Newcomer of the Year recipient in each of the last two seasons in Isnelle Natabou in 2021-22 and Dean in 2022-23.
“I’m very excited to be a TCU Horned Frog,” Campbell said. “It’s an honor to serve as its women’s basketball head coach. TCU is a special place with unbelievable people. With its facilities, location and support, everything is in place for us to be successful and continue the momentum you see across the board from all of TCU’s sports programs. I’m committed to providing the best student-athlete experience, building a championship culture and leading a women’s basketball program that makes TCU proud. I would like to thank Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati, Deputy Athletics Director Mike Sinquefield and Senior Associate Athletics Director Kim Johnson for this amazing opportunity. My family and I cannot wait to make TCU and Fort Worth our home.”
Prior to joining the Hornets, Campbell spent seven seasons at Oregon with the last six as associate head coach. Campbell helped lead Oregon to three straight Pac-12 regular-season titles, two Pac-12 Tournament championships and six NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Final Four in 2019. He worked with Oregon’s guards, created the Ducks’ defensive game plan and was the team’s lead recruiter.
Campbell was responsible for recruiting Ionescu, one of the most decorated players in the sport’s history. Ionescu was joined in the top 10 of the 2020 WNBA Draft by teammates Satou Sabally (No. 2) and Ruthy Hebard (No. 8), both of whom Campbell also played a huge role in bringing to the Ducks.
Regarded as the one of the nation’s elite recruiters, Campbell brought high level talent each year to Oregon. Campbell was the lead recruiter in the hunt for Ionescu, who was the top-ranked guard in the country and No. 4 overall recruit. It helped Oregon net the nation’s No. 3 ranked class in 2016. Campbell was then instrumental in Oregon landing its first-ever No. 1 ranked recruiting class in 2020, bringing in five players who were consensus top-25 recruits and McDonalds All-Americans. Campbell has also been key in signing top international players, including Berlin, Germany, native Satou Sabally, considered the top international forward in the 2017 recruiting class, and her younger sister, star power forward Nyara Sabally, in the 2018 class.
Campbell and the Ducks advanced to the program’s first-ever NCAA Final Four in 2019 while repeating as Pac-12 regular-season champions and totaling a school-record 33 wins for the second year in a row. For the first time in his career, Campbell tutored a player to national player of the year honors as Ionescu was named both the Wooden Award and Wade Trophy winner.
In 2018, Campbell helped guide the Ducks to a second straight Elite Eight appearance and the program’s first Pac-12 regular-season championship since 2000. The Ducks also captured their first Pac-12 Tournament title in program history behind a championship game record 36 points from Ionescu in a 20-point win over Stanford. Ionescu earned her first of three straight Pac-12 Player of the Year awards and became the Oregon’s first first-team All-American since 1982.
Oregon’s rise to prominence began with the 2016-17 season, when Ionescu and Hebard burst onto the scene as true freshmen and helped Oregon secure its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2005. A No. 11 seed, Oregon beat No. 2 seed Duke on its home floor in the second round. The Ducks kept their magical run going with another upset over No. 3 seed Maryland to reach the first Elite Eight in program history. Ionescu went on to earn ESPNW and USBWA national Freshman of the Year honors.
Prior to joining Oregon, Campbell served on the staff at Oregon State. Beginning as an assistant coach, he was promoted to associate head coach for the 2013-14 season. Campbell proved instrumental in the recruiting efforts of the Beavers. He was an integral part of turning around a program that went from 9-21 in 2010-11 to an NCAA Second Round appearance in 2014.
Before heading to Corvallis, Campbell spent two seasons with the men’s program at Saint Mary’s. He was the team’s director of operations before becoming an assistant coach under Randy Bennett. Preceding his stint at Saint Mary’s, Campbell spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach for the Pepperdine men’s program under Vance Walberg.
From 2005-07, Campbell coached at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Ore., helping the Cougars to the 2007 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Championship.
During his playing days, Campbell played at Cal Poly and Clackamas before transferring to Hawai`i for his final two seasons. He guided the Warriors to an NCAA Tournament bid in 2002 and NIT appearance in 2003. Starting all but one game, he is the winningest two-year player in Hawai`i’s history and led the team to a school-record 27 victories in 2001-02. He was a WAC all-defensive team pick as a senior and was a two-time WAC all-academic selection. In June 2016, Campbell was inducted into the Clackamas Hall of Fame. In 2012 and 2013, Campbell was selected to attend Nike’s renowned Villa 7 Consortium, which brings together university athletics directors and the country’s elite assistant coaches in an effort to prepare the next generation of college basketball head coaches.
Campbell earned a degree in liberal studies from Hawai`i in 2004, adding a master’s degree in education from George Fox in 2006. He is a native of Mt. Vernon, Wash. Campbell and his wife, Ashley, who played basketball at Vanderbilt, have two daughters, Maley and Makay.
https://gofrogs.com/news/2023/3/21/campbell-named-head-womens-basketball-coach.aspx
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