MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama has hired Steve Campbell as the second head football coach in program history, the university announced Thursday.
Campbell, 51, a Pensacola, Fla., native, comes to South Alabama from Central Arkansas, where he led the Bears to back-to-back 10-win seasons. He succeeds Joey Jones, who started the program and coached the Jaguars from their first season in 2009 through 2017.
Erdmann: “He Became the Primary Target”
“When the search began we identified the experience, qualities and characteristics we were looking for,” South Alabama Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann said in a statement. “We searched for a leader who has demonstrated success and possesses a vision for the program with the plan to communicate and achieve that vision. As the search progressed, it became clear that Coach Campbell had what we were looking for. He became the primary target and accepted the offer.”
“He is a proven college head football coach who has achieved consistent success in various settings with different programs,” Erdmann said. “Coach Campbell possesses coaching expertise, high school and junior college recruiting relationships, and a contagious passion for the game of football. He is well-respected by his peers and at the core of his identity is a man of character and deep values.”
Campbell: A Chance to Come Home
“I was born and raised in this area, just down the road outside of Pensacola, and have always felt that if South Alabama started football it would be a gold mine, a place where the sky is the limit and you can definitely compete for championships at the highest level,” Campbell said in the statement.
“Coach Jones did a terrific job of getting the program started and laying a tremendous foundation. This is an opportunity to get back home and, more than that, to take what Joey has started and raise it to the next level and win some championships.”
Coaching Career
Campbell began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Auburn under Pat Dye, helping the Tigers win back-to-back Southeastern Conference titles. His first full-time job came in 1990 as offensive line coach at Delta State, where he rose to offensive coordinator before taking the same job at Nicholls State in 1993.
He became a head coach for the first time in 1997 at Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he had coached running backs the previous season. In two seasons he went 12-8 and led the school to its first winning season in 12 years.
Delta State
Campbell returned to Delta State as head coach in 1999 and went 27-8 in three seasons. His no-huddle offense set 12 Gulf South Conference records and six Division II records. In 2000, Delta State won the NCAA Division II national championship, and Campbell was named national coach of the year by three organizations.
Middle Tennessee and Mississippi State
In 2002, Campbell was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Middle Tennessee, which beat in-state rival Vanderbilt that season. In 2003 he coached the offensive line at Mississippi State in Jackie Sherrill’s final season.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
Campbell took over at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in 2004, inheriting a program that had gone 6-12 over the previous two seasons and had not reached the state playoffs since 1986. He went 87-22 in 10 seasons and led the Bulldogs to a share of the 2007 NJCAA national championship. Several of his players went on to Southeastern Conference programs, among them Terrence Cody at Alabama.
In 2010, Mississippi Gulf Coast went 10-2, with its two losses by a combined six points. The Bulldogs beat Co-Lin in the MACJC championship game and defeated No. 3 Grand Rapids 62-53 in the Mississippi Bowl, a game record for combined points.
Central Arkansas
Campbell was hired at Central Arkansas of the Southland Conference in 2014. He went 6-6 in his first season and 7-4 in his second, then led the Bears to consecutive 10-win seasons. Both of those teams reached the second round of the FCS playoffs.
Campbell is 27-8 as a head coach at the Division II level and 33-15 at the FCS level.
Playing Career
Campbell started 43 consecutive games at center for Southeastern Louisiana and Troy State. He was a member of Troy State’s 1987 NCAA Division II national championship team and was named first-team All-Gulf South Conference. A three-time academic all-conference selection, he graduated cum laude from Troy State with a bachelor’s degree in economics and later earned a Master of Business Administration from Auburn.
Introductory News Conference
South Alabama will formally introduce Campbell at a news conference at 1 p.m. Friday at the Football Fieldhouse. The event is open to the public. JagNation TV will stream the news conference live, and 99.5 FM The Jag will carry it on radio.
South Alabama competes in the Sun Belt Conference and plays its home games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
