Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- markcamp@uoregon.edu
MEDIA
11/30/15: CAMPBELL PROMOTED TO ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH
BIOGRAPHY
Mark Campbell is entering his seventh season with the Oregon women’s basketball program in 2020-21, and his sixth season as the team’s associate head coach. Campbell was promoted from assistant coach on Nov. 30, 2015. He works with Oregon’s guards, creates the Ducks’ defensive game plans and is the team's lead recruiter.
Campbell helped lead the Ducks to a third straight Pac-12 regular-season title and a second Pac-12 Tournament championship in a three-year span in 2019-20. Oregon went 31-2 overall and was primed to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before the season was cut short due to COVID-19. A big reason for Oregon's dominance was a drastic defensive improvement - coordinated by Campbell - as the Ducks went from 135th nationally in scoring defense in 2018-19 (63.0) to 41st overall in 2019-20 (57.9). Guard Minyon Moore became the second UO player to earn consensus Pac-12 all-defensive honors.
Sabrina Ionescu - whom Campbell recruited relentlessly before she committed ahead of the 2016-17 season - was the unanimous national player of the year as a senior in 2019-20 while becoming the first player in history to surpass 2,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists, and she finished her career as the undisputed all-time triple-double queen with 26 in her career.
Ionescu went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, becoming just the third UO student-athlete ever to go No. 1 in their respective professional draft. She was joined in the top 10 by teammates Satou Sabally (No. 2) and Ruthy Hebard (No. 8), both of whom Campbell also played a huge role in bringing to Eugene. Oregon's stellar "Big Three" all earned all-American honors, with Hebard joining Ionescu as a first-team selection, and all three where named the national players of the year at their respective positions. Campbell was present on draft day with Sabally when she was selected second overall by the Dallas Wings, teaming up with Ionescu to become just the fourth pair of teammates ever to go 1-2 in the same WNBA Draft.
Campbell and the Ducks advanced to the program's first-ever NCAA Final Four appearance in 2018-19 while repeating as Pac-12 regular-season champions and racking up 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 the Wade Trophy winner.
In 2017-18, Campbell helped guide the Ducks to a second straight Elite Eight appearance and the program's first Pac-12 regular-season championship since 2000. Oregon pulled out a thrilling overtime win over UCLA late in the regular season to take control of first place before clinching the title with a road win at Arizona, and the Ducks rolled to the first Pac-12 Tournament title in program history behind a title-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 Bev Smith (1982).
Oregon's rise to prominence began with the 2016-17 season, when Ionescu and Hebard burst onto the scene as true freshmen. The Ducks pulled off a huge upset against Kelsey Plum and Washington in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament on the Huskies' home floor, securing their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2005. Oregon, a No. 11 seed, pulled out a one-point win over Temple in the opening round - with Hebard scoring the game-winner with six seconds left - before upsetting No. 2 seed Duke on its home floor in the second round. Playing under the mantra "Winner Stays," 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.
Campbell is undeniably one of the very best recruiters in the country, bringing elite talent to Eugene each year since arriving at Oregon. Campbell was the lead recruiter in the hunt for Ionescu, who was the top-ranked guard in the country and the No. 4 overall recruit, as Oregon netted the nation's No. 3 ranked class in 2016. Campbell was instrumental in Oregon landing its first ever No. 1 ranked recruiting class in 2020, bringing in five players all of whom were consensus top-25 recruits and McDonalds all-Americans. Campbell has also been key in signing some 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 joined the Oregon program in 2014 after spending four seasons on the staff at Oregon State. Campbell started with the Beavers as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach for the 2013-14 season. He played an integral role in rebuilding the OSU program. Campbell worked with OSU’s guards and helped develop four-straight Pac-12 all-freshman picks in Alyssa Martin (2011), Ali Gibson (2012), Jamie Weisner (2013) and Sydney Weise (2014).
Before heading to Corvallis, Campbell worked with the men’s program at Saint Mary’s. He served as an assistant coach for Randy Bennett 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 the Saint Mary’s staff as director of operations in 2008-09. In the Bay Area, he mentored a number of All-American guards including Patty Mills, a 2009 NBA draft pick by the Portland Trail Blazers, Mickey McConnell, the 2011 WCC Player of the Year, and Matthew Dellavedova, the 2012 WCC Player of the Year. 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, creator of the dribble-drive offense. 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.
In his own career, Campbell played at Cal Poly and Clackamas CC before transferring to Hawai`i for his final two seasons, guiding the Warriors to a 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 wins 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 of 2016, Campbell was inducted into the Clackamas CC 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. A native of Mt. Vernon, Wash., he is married to the former Ashley Smith, who played basketball at Vanderbilt and is from Oregon City. The couple has two daughters, Maley and Makay.
