South Alabama head football coach Steve Campbell will speak at the 2018 Mississippi Bowl banquet, which will be held Nov. 30 in Gulfport at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Hospitality Resort Management Center.
Campbell will also be inducted the Mississippi Bowl Hall of Fame during the weekend.
Campbell has won three national championships as a student-athlete and coach, including the 2007 NJCAA crown at Gulf Coast. His Bulldog teams won three of the first four Mississippi Bowls in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Campbell won almost exactly 80 percent of his games in 10 seasons at Perkinston, going 87-22. 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 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.
After beginning his collegiate playing 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 there 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.
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.
Campbell started his coaching career at Auburn (1988-89) before moving to Delta State (1990-92). He also coached at Nicholl State (1993-95) and Southwest Mississippi Community College (1996), where he became head coach in 1997-98.
He was named head coach at Delta State in 1999, and in three seasons posted 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.
Campbell was offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee in 2002 and offensive line coach at Mississippi State the following year before taking over at Gulf Coast.
Campbell left Perkinston in 2014 to take over at FCS Central Arkansas. In four seasons in Conway, Ark., he went 33-15, including a 24-3 mark in the Southland Conference the last three seasons. In 2017, UCA went 10-2 and won the Southland with a 9-0 record to earn the fourth seed in the FCS playoffs.
Campbell has wrapped up his first season in Mobile at South Alabama, which hired him in December 2017.
Mississippi Bowl speakers
2018: Steve Campbell, South Alabama coach
2017: Chris White, Former MGCCC, MSU player and Super Bowl champion
2016: Bret Bielema, Arkansas coach
2015: Deuce McAllister, former Ole Miss and New Orleans Saints running back
2014: Gus Malzahn, Auburn coach
2013: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State coach
2012: Jackie Sherrill, former Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Pitt coach
2011: Brig. Gen. Andy Mueller, Keesler Air Force Base
2010: Brig. Gen. Andy Mueller, Keesler Air Force Base
2009: George Schloegel, Gulfport mayor
2008: A.J. Holloway, Biloxi mayor
