Mark Campbell, an assistant on the women’s basketball staff for the past three seasons, has been promoted to the position of associate head coach, Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck announced Wednesday.
"Mark has been with me every step of the way at Oregon State and earned this promotion as a result of his tireless work helping to build Beaver women’s basketball the past three years," Rueck said. "He is an outstanding coach, teacher, mentor and recruiter whose impact on each facet of our program cannot be understated. I’m excited to have Mark and his family here as we continue to move our team forward."
Campbell has played an integral role in the development of the Beaver program under Rueck and has gained national recognition for his recruiting and basketball acumen as a result. For the past two years, he has been part of a select few invited to 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 leaders.
Less than 10 percent of women’s basketball assistants from the nation’s nearly 350 Division I programs have received invitations to the exclusive event the past two years, which has grown to become one of the most respected gatherings for professional development and networking in the country. Since its inception in 2004, Villa 7 has seen 90-plus participants combined on both the men’s and women’s sides become head coaches.
Campbell has been the point person in helping Oregon State land a pair of top-notch recruiting classes the past two seasons, including four nationally-ranked, top-100 student-athletes.
Focusing on mentoring and developing Oregon State’s guards, Campbell has coached three-straight Pac-12 All-Freshman performers at the position in Alyssa Martin (2011), Ali Gibson (2012) and Jamie Weisner (2013). He also oversaw the instruction of Earlysia Marchbanks, a 2012 All-Pac-12 First Team selection, and Sage Indendi, a 2011 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention pick whose 75 3-point makes that season are a school record.
In 2012-13, Weisner had one of the best first-year campaigns in Oregon State history. She led the team in scoring, was second in rebounds and became just the fifth freshman, and first in 20 years, to amass totals of 350 points and 150 rebounds in a season at Oregon State.
Campbell’s work with the trio of Weisner, Gibson and Martin gives OSU one of the most potent backcourts from behind the 3-point line in the Pac-12. Weisner’s .372 3-point field goal percentage last season was second in the conference and the fifth-best in Oregon State history. Martin will return for her senior season as the Pac-12’s active leader in 3-point makes with 127 and the rising junior Gibson joins Martin in OSU’s career top-10 list in that category with 96.
Campbell arrived in Corvallis by way of St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. He served as an assistant coach for Randy Bennett and the men’s basketball program during the 2009-10 campaign, helping the Gaels reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history as well as tie a school record for wins in a season (28-6). He originally joined St. Mary’s staff as director of operations in 2008-09, a year in which the team went 28-7.
The Gaels posted a combined record of 56-13 (.812) in Campbell’s two years with the program. In the Bay Area, he also mentored a number of all-American guards in Patty Mills, a 2009 NBA draft pick of the Portland Trail Blazers, Mickey McConnell, the 2011 West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year, and Matthew Dellavedova, the 2012 WCC Player of the Year and the school’s all-time leader in scoring, assists, games played, free throw percentage and 3-point shots.
Prior to his stint at St. Mary’s, Campbell spent the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach for the Pepperdine men’s basketball program under Vance Walberg, a current assistant for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and creator of the dribble drive offense. In his only season in Malibu, Campbell was able to sign a pair of Scout.com top-100 players for the Waves. From 2005-07 he was at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Ore., helping the Cougars to the 2007 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Championship.
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