Donati Announces Hire of Campbell As Next TCU Women's Basketball Coach

From Hornets to Horned Frogs, the former Sacramento State head coach will lead TCU next season.

TCU announced today the hiring of Mark Campbell as the eighth women's basketball coach in its history. Campbell was introduced today in a press conference as the newest coaching member of the Frog family. 

Campbell has served as the head coach of women's basketball for the last two years for the Sacramento State Hornet's. He took over the program at Sacramento State on April 16, 2021, and his record there was 39-24, which included last year's record of 25-8.

A new era for @TCUWbasketball

Welcome to TCU, Mark! #GoFrogs https://t.co/PyfDnShBn6

— TCU Athletics (@TCU_Athletics) March 21, 2023

Prior to joining the Hornets, Campbell spent seven seasons at Oregon, most recently as the team’s associate head coach. In his seven seasons with the Ducks, Campbell helped lead Oregon to three straight Pac-12 regular season titles, two Pac-12 Tournament championships, and five NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Final Four in 2019.

Campbell was responsible for recruiting Sabrina Ionescu, one of the most decorated student-athletes in the sport’s history and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft. Ionescu was joined in the top 10 of the 2020 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. 

Under Campbell’s guidance, Oregon landed its first ever No. 1 ranked recruiting class in 2020, just two years after netting the nation’s No. 3 ranked class in 2016.

Prior to joining Oregon, Campbell served on staff at Oregon State, beginning as an assistant before being 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 serving first as 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 CC before transferring to Hawaii for his final two seasons, guiding 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 Hawaii’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 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 Hawaii in 2004. He added a master’s degree in education from George Fox in 2006. A native of Mt. Vernon, Washington, he is married to the former Ashley Smith, who played basketball at Vanderbilt as a point guard and is from Oregon City. The couple has two daughters, Maley and Makay.

Now that we know Campbell's background let us look to the future. Campbell announced today the team will be running a spread pick-and-roll offense and man-to-man defense. Coach Campbell stated, "Recruiting was essential to building the program at TCU, and that the next seven days will be spent on recruiting and contacting the current players of TCU."  Also he stated when asked, "that he wants engage the current fan base and hope to grow it through community outreach and interaction." Coach Campbell, after thanking all the folks involved in his hiring opportunity, also announced that he was bring with him Xavier Lopez and Minyon Moore as assistant coaches. He also stated that TCU fans may see Satou Sabally of the WNBA Dallas Wings around campus, since, as previously mentioned, Campbell had a role in recruiting her to the Ducks. 

Lopez, who goes by "Xavi" (Cha-vee) who will be over the team's offense, previously served on the Oregon women's basketball staff alongside Campbell for the last seven years, including the last four as an assistant coach. He was a key part of the program's five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and its Final Four run in 2019. Lopez is originally from Barcelona.

Moore will be over the team's defense. She started coaching with Campbell at Sacramento State in April 2021. Previously, she graduated from USC in three years in 2019 and spent her final year of eligibility at Oregon for the 2019-20 season. While in Eugene, Moore helped lead the Ducks to a sweep of the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles. Moore started all 33 games while leading the team in steals. She was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team for the third time in her career as well as to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll. She was part of a dominant Ducks team that seemed destined for a national championship before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Moore was born in Sacramento, California. 

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