Chris Campbell enters his second season on the Auburn volleyball staff after joining the program as anassistant coach in February 2008.
Following the 2008 season Campbell was promoted to Associate Head Coach, and in addition to continuing his roles as recruiting coordinator and position coach for the middle blockers he also added defensive coordinator to his areas of responsibility.
In his first full recruiting class, Campbell pulled in the nation[apos]s No. 26 recruiting class, according to PrepVolleyball.com. The class included the No. 34 and No. 93-ranked seniors in the nation (Katherine Culwell and MacKenzy Harper) as well as Sarah Bullock, who was named to the 2009 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team at the conclusion of the 2009 season. Campbell also showed his international recruiting experience in helping sign Bulgarian stand-out Vesala Zapryanova. The nine-member class ranked third in the Southeastern Conference.
As defensive coordinator Campbell was responsibile for designing and implimenting the Tigers defensive system and the defensive game plans for success in the ever-tough SEC. The results speak for themselves. In just one season Auburn rose from ninth to fifth in the SEC in opponent hitting percentage, and from 11th to seventth in blocks. The Tigers also improved by over 1.5 digs/game compared with the previous season. This one year defensive turnaround played a significant part of the Tiger[apos]s overall team improvement in the SEC where they climbed from a last place conference finish in 2008 to a fifth place finish in 2009. The improvement was also noted on a national level as Auburnm obtained its first regional ranking in over a decade and was ranked as high as No. 60 in the national RPI (Ratings Percentage Index).
In his work with the middle blockers Campbell helped mentor junior Alyssa Davis to her best ever season, one which saw her finish in the top 10 in the SEC in hittting percentage. As a position, Auburn[apos]s middle blockers posted over a 100 point improvement in hitting percentage during the 2009 season compared with 2008.
A native of Harvey Station, New Brunswick, Canada, Campbell brings 10 seasons of coaching experience to the staff, eight as a head coach and two as an assistant coach. Most recently, Campbell was at Northern Arizona from 2004-07.
[quote]Chris is someone that has international experience, playing experience and head coaching experience from Northern Arizona and Louisiana-Lafayette,[quote] said Benson. [quote]With his experience in the southeast, I feel that he will be a great recruiter while also serving as an excellent helper with on-court duties.[quote]
Benson and Campbell actually competed against each other in the Big Sky Conference while Benson was head coach at Eastern Washington. The experience coaching at the mid-major level is something that Benson believes will help in Auburn[apos]s re-building process.
[quote]Coming from a mid-major, you learn that you have to manufacture success without a lot of resources,[quote] said Benson. [quote]Being at Auburn, with more resources, it gives us two strong, experienced leaders to balance out Auburn[apos]s great push toward success.[quote]
While at NAU, Campbell had 20 student-athletes earn 36 NAU Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete awards and 11 student-athletes earn 20 academic All-Big Sky Conference honors.
The 2007 season saw Campbell[apos]s Lumberjacks finish sixth in the conference, earning their first Big Sky Tournament berth since the 2004 season.
During the 2007 season, Campbell had the opportunity to mentor Kim Babcock, who led the nation in kills per game.
Campbell spent the 2003 season as an assistant at Northern Arizona before taking over the head coach position. Before his arrival in Flagstaff, Ariz., Campbell spent one season as the head coach at Division II Mississippi University for Women and three seasons at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
In three seasons Louisiana-Lafayette, Campbell directed the program to two second-place finishes in the Sun Belt Conference West Division. During the 2001 season, he led the Cajuns to a No. 9 ranking in the NCAA South Region.
Campbell holds two bachelor[apos]s degrees, the first in physics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 1995, followed by a bachelor[apos]s in secondary education from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1997.