JACKSON, Tenn. – The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inducted its 2025 class Saturday, June 14 at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee. Among the seven inductees was Union University Women’s Basketball Head Coach, Mark Campbell.
Campbell said, “This last weekend was one of the most special honors I could receive as a basketball coach. Dana Hart and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame did an amazing job of making all of us feel honored. It was a weekend that brought back memories of my life here at Union University and the amazing people I have had the opportunity to do life with. I am so grateful for this environment and how we strive to leverage all things for eternal purpose. I met so many good people, and it made the weekend a full experience. This achievement is a community award. This place has been and is a place very few get to experience. We are all products of our environment. Thank you to all for investing in this place. I am very thankful to be a part of the TEAM.”
Campbell is entering his 27th season as the head coach of the Union Women’s Basketball team and boasts a career record of 775-120 (.866).
Union University President, Dr. Dub Oliver, who attended the event in Knoxville, had this to say following the ceremony, “What an incredible privilege to be at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony for the 2025 class! There was a lot of greatness on that stage and in that room, but Mark Campbell pointed us all to Christ as the One worthy of all honor and glory and praise. Congratulations Coach!”
The 2024-25 season was another historic season for Union and Campbell. The season opened with Campbell being notified that he would be inducted into the 2025 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2025. Campbell led his team to a 33-4 overall record and a 21-1 Gulf South Conference regular season record. He led Union to its 10th GSC regular season title and its 7th GSC Tournament Title. Campbell’s team was the No. 1 seed and host for the NCAA D2 South Region Tournament, in which he won for the second time. Union advanced to the NCAA D2 Elite Eight in Pittsburgh, where the Lady Bulldogs advanced to the national semifinals for the second time since joining the NCAA. He was named the GSC Coach of the Year, TSWA Coach of the Year, and a finalist for the WBCA National Coach of the Year.
On June 1, 2023, Campbell became just the third Director of Athletics at Union in the last 50 years. He was named AD following the retirement of Tommy Sadler, who spent 38 years at Union, including the last 16 years as director of athletics. For the time being, Campbell will serve as both the director of athletics and women’s basketball head coach.
Campbell is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the NAIA Hall of Fame (2019-20), and the Jackson Madison County Sports Hall of Fame (2021). He coached the USA U-16 Women’s Basketball team to a gold medal in the summer of 2019. In the fall of 2022, he was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the history of Union University as a part of the University’s Bicentennial Celebration.
In his career, he has led his Union teams to a third-place or higher finish in national tournaments 13 times, including 10 straight from 2005-14. He has won five national titles of the six in women’s basketball history at Union. Campbell was tops in the NAIA in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, and then won the 2014 NCCAA National Title. He has two second-place finishes in national tournaments, 2011 and 2012 in the NAIA. He has six third-place finishes, 2002, 2007, and 2008 in the NAIA, 2013 in the NCCAA National Tournament, and 2018 and 2025 in the NCAA D2 National Tournament.
(PHOTO: Mark Campbell, center, was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, in Knoxville, Saturday. Steven Aldridge – Union’s Associate Director of Athletics, Sports Communications, is at left, and Union University president Dr. Dub Oliver, right)
