University of South Alabama Athletics

Steve Campbell was hired as head football coach at the University of South Alabama prior to the 2018 season after recording three national championships as both a student-athlete and coach in addition to posting a career .750 winning percentage over 19 years while leading four different institutions.

He enters his third year at the helm of the program with an overall record of 164-72 (69.5%) and a 65-42 (60.7%) mark at the NCAA level.

In his first season guiding the Jaguars, South faced a schedule that featured eight opponents who would go on to play in a postseason bowl including both participants in the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Championship Game as well as American Athletic Conference West Division champion Memphis.  Under his direction nine Jags picked up all-Sun Belt honors and senior wide receiver Jamarius Way — who was among the top three in the league in catches and receiving yards per contest — received an invitation to participate in the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

His efforts also helped junior running back Tra Minter lead the conference and rank in the top 10 in the country in all-purpose yards per game, highlighted by the first 200-yard game rushing in program history in a season-ending victory over Coastal Carolina.

Last fall, South would take on a pair of nationally-ranked opponents and two other programs that would win their division in league play including a Memphis team that received the Group of 5’s bid to a New Year’s 6 Bowl after facing Penn State in the Cotton Bowl Classic; in fact, both the Tigers and eventual Sun Belt champion Appalachian State would end up in the top 20 of the final Associated Press and coaches’ top-25 rankings.  The Jaguars ended the campaign with a 34-30 victory over Arkansas State — a team that would go on to win its bowl game — that saw the offense tie a school game record with four touchdown passes.

Following the season, Minter became the second individual in program history to receive All-America recognition after earning honorable mention honors from Phil Steele Publications as he ranked second in the country with an average of 161.92 all-purpose yards per game while becoming the first 1,000-yard rusher ever at USA.  He was one of seven individuals to garner all-Sun Belt honors as well.

South also performed at a high level in the classroom, posting a cumulative grade-point average above a 2.8 in the spring as nearly 60 individuals in the program recorded a 3.0 mark or better during the semester despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  Not only was it the highest semester GPA in program history, the team also achieved its best-ever NCAA Academic Progress Rate single year score in the most recent report released by the organization.

In his first two seasons in charge of the program, five student-athletes have been named academic all-district with Rowan Godwin going on to be selected second-team Academic All-America in 2018.

Campbell, 54, came to South after a four-year stint at Central Arkansas, where he guided the Bears to 33-15 mark including a record of 24-3 in the Southland Conference his last three seasons, during which time the Bears finished no lower than second in the league standings.  UCA went 10-2 and claimed the conference title with a 9-0 mark in 2017 to earn the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.  In addition to being named the Southland Coach of the Year, the Bears claimed four of the league’s other six individual awards, with 10 first-team all-conference selections and another 10 individuals picking up second-team and honorable mention recognition.

After going 6-6 in his first season at the Conway, Ark., institution, Campbell led the program to a 7-4 record (7-2 in the league) the following fall.  Under his guidance in 2016, the Bears posted a 10-3 mark — including going 8-1 in conference action — after winning their first-round FCS playoff contest.

Prior to his stint at UCA, Campbell led Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College to a record of 87-22 and the 2007 National Junior College Athletic Association national championship in 10 seasons at the helm of the program.  During his final eight years at MGCCC, the Bulldogs spent 115 consecutive weeks in the NJCAA top 25, claimed six Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) South Division titles and won the Mississippi Junior College championship on three occasions.  He was twice named the national Coach of the Year, earning those honors three times at both the conference and region levels while 28 of his student-athletes received All-America accolades and 17 were selected Academic All-Americans.

Before his arrival, Bulldog football had not made it to the state playoffs since 1986.

Campbell was also the head coach at Delta State for three seasons from 1999-01, posting a 27-8 record that included a 14-1 mark and the NCAA Division II national championship in 2000 when he was selected the Chevrolet National Coach of the Year.  In his first head coaching job, at Southwest Mississippi Community College during the 1997 and ’98 campaigns, he led the Bears to their first winning season in 12 years while going 12-8 overall.

In his first 19 seasons as a head coach, Campbell — who was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2014, and also served as the President of the NJCAA Coaches Association in 2012 — never guided a team that finished with a losing record while compiling a 159-53 overall mark.

Campbell began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Pat Dye at Auburn in 1988-89, and during that time the Tigers would go 20-4 overall and 12-2 in the Southeastern Conference while playing in the Sugar Bowl and defeating Ohio State in the Hall of Fame Bowl.  He moved on to become the offensive line coach (1990-91) and offensive coordinator (1992) at Delta State, also serving stints as the offensive coordinator at Nicholls State (1993-95) and as running backs coach at Southwest Mississippi C.C. (1996).  In 2002, Campbell was the offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee, and the following year he coached the offensive line at Mississippi State on the staff of Jackie Sherrill.

After beginning his collegiate career at Southeastern Louisiana, Campbell moved on to Troy where he was a part of the Trojans’ 1987 NCAA Division II national championship team; during his two years with the program the team went 22-3 with a 16-0 record in the Gulf South Conference en route to claiming back-to-back league titles.  He was named first-team all-conference at center his senior year.

Campbell played at Tate High School under legendary coach Carl Madison from 1980-83.

A native of Cantonment, Fla., Campbell received his undergraduate degree in economics from Troy in 1988, and a master’s degree in business administration from Auburn in 1990.  He and his wife, Shellie, have three children — Kelsie, Steven Jr. and Tate — and two grandchildren, Jennie Austin and Sophia.

The Campbell File
Born: April 11, 1966, in Pensacola, Fla.
Education:
Troy ’88, bachelor’s degree in economics
Auburn ’90, master’s degree in business administration
Collegiate Playing Experience:
Two years, offensive line, Southeastern Louisiana
Two years, offensive line, Troy
Earned all-Gulf South Conference honors in 1987
Won 1987 NCAA Division II national championship
Coaching Experience:
Auburn — graduate assistant coach, 1988-89
Delta (Miss.) State — assistant coach, 1990-92; head coach 1999-01
Nicholls State — assistant coach, 1993-95
Southwest Mississippi C.C. — assistant coach, 1996; head coach 1997-98
Middle Tennessee — assistant coach, 2002
Mississippi State — assistant coach, 2003
Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. — head coach, 2004-13
Central Arkansas — head coach, 2014-17
South Alabama — head coach, 2018-
Family: Wife, Shellie; Two daughters, Kelsie (29) and Tate (15), and one son, Steven Jr. (28); Two grandchildren, Jennie Austin (4) and Sophia (1)