Coaching a family tradition for Campbell

It is highly unusual for a college coach to switch from offensive to defensive coordinator, but that is the role Steadman Campbell has made at North Alabama.

Campbell is in his 13th season as an assistant at North Alabama, a traditional power in Division II which is making the transition to Division I in football. He was offensive coordinator the previous two years and helped direct an offense that averaged 36 points per game in 2016.

“It’s been relatively smooth,” Campbell said about making the coaching move from offense to defense. “It’s a different mindset but a great opportunity. Coaching on the defensive side is a better fit for me, actually.”

Campbell is the son of Louis Campbell, who coached for 43 years, mostly on the defensive side of the ball. Both father and son played at Arkansas, and Louis Campbell spent 18 years as an assistant coach for the Razorbacks.

“Obviously, my father is at the top of the list,” Steadman Campbell said of the men who’ve impacted his coaching career. “Right behind him is Joe Kines and my brother, Shep, who was a defensive coordinator in college and is now in private business in Little Rock.”

Steadman Campbell played wide receiver at Fayetteville High School and was named to the Associated Press Super Team in 1997. The Bulldogs finished 8-3 his senior year after losing 52-31 to El Dorado in the first round of the Class AAAA state playoffs.

“We started 8-0, then the bottom kind of fell out,” Campbell said. “Southside really took it to us (55-3). But the thing I remember most is the friends I made. I still stay in contact with seven or eight guys I played with in junior high and high school.”

Campbell played sparingly for two years at Arkansas, where he was a backup receiver and returned six punts for 103 yards as a sophomore.

An injury prompted him to give up football and focus on a coaching career.

“I was part of Houston Nutt’s first recruiting class at Arkansas,” Campbell said. “Toward the end of my sophomore year he put me back there as a punt returner. He said ‘Campbell may not get far, but at least he’ll catch it.’”

Campbell spent three years as a graduate assistant at Alabama before joining the staff at North Alabama in 2006. He met his wife, Tara, in Birmingham, and the couple have a daughter, Emmie Grace, who was born in 2016.

Above photo: NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo; Inset photo: courtesy University of North Alabama Steadman Campbell (above photo) played two years at Arkansas and returned punts as a sophomore for the Razorbacks. (Inset photo) Campbell is now an assistant coach at North Alabama.