New Bern Basketball: Meet Coach Campbell

While all of New Bern HS wonders when we will return to school, none do more than the members of the NBHS basketball team. That's because they can't wait to get back on the court to build upon a season where they showed tremendous improvement. 

The Bears finished their season with a loss to Eastern Wayne in the first round of the East Coast Conference Tournament. Although they finished with a losing overall record (8-15), they were competitive in every game they played, losing several in the final minutes. 

I had the chance to sit down with Coach Campbell and talk to him about his background and this season. “I’m Coach Campbell, I am a diehard Tarheel and a San Francisco 49er fan,” Campbell said when asked to describe himself. The up and down season of the Tarheels and the successful Niners season is a perfect description of Coach Campbell and the Bears as fans wanted more from the team but have many reasons to be happy with how the season turned out.  

Talking about home, Coach said, “I was born and raised here, been here my whole life, and wouldn’t change it for anything.” While Craven County is in his blood, so is basketball.  “Basketball has meant everything. Something I fell in love with, many, many years ago. It’s been awesome. Basketball is right behind family, basketball ranks right in there.” 

Basketball and coaching have taken Coach Campbell far beyond Craven County. “The game of basketball has taken me many places. Not just in high school ranks but in travel ball, this game has taken me as far as Las Vegas. I’ve coached locally and I’ve coached a top 25 ranked travel team in the country, I’ve coached players that are now playing in the NBA, players that are playing overseas. So this game of basketball has taken me places that I wouldn’t have normally been. But the game of basketball has been good to me.”

Being a standout basketball player at West Craven HS gave Coach Campbell the chance to achieve his dream of playing college basketball. “I played at Avery University and then I hurt my knee and I began my coaching career there at Avery University as well after the knee injury.” 

When asked if his knee injury was a big part of the reason he decided to coach, Campbell said this, “It did. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, I thought I wanted to be in recreation management and things like that. My knee injury took basketball away from me but I still wanted to be a part of the game of basketball, so my college coach at the time was Jimmy Allen and he offered me a student assistant spot and coaching kind of took off from there.” 

Before coming to New Bern, Coach Campbell spent a few years with the cross-county rival, West Craven High School. While some would wonder why a famous Eagle would join the Bears, Coach said “Yes. I was a West Craven graduate (but) the opportunity to become the leader of the Bears was one I couldn’t turn down. I couldn’t say no to. It’s been a dream come true.” 

In talking about the Bears-Eagles rivalry, Coach said “It means everything. It’s bragging rights. I can’t go home unless we take care of business. It’s a fun rivalry, it means a lot to the community. Me being a community guy, it’s Craven County basketball and I think anytime two teams tangle it’s going to be a battle.”

Now that the season is over, Coach Campbell looks back with pride in how his players responded. “It was a good year, it was a learning process, we grew, we accomplished some of the goals that we set out before the season, like more than double our win total, and we did that. We wanted to become county champs, and we held 4-1 advantage against the county.”

Coach was also pleased with the fan support at New Bern High school. “Every time we stepped on the floor in the Bears Den, just seeing the support. The support was amazing, being able to enter the gym before being able to play and seeing the student section rocking, is special.”

Coach Campbell has big plans for the future.  “Playing close was never acceptable, but we are going to be conference champions next year and return to the playoffs and do some damage.” If you were unable to catch the Bears this past season, it is time to hop on the wagon as they have big plans for next season. 

Thank you, Coach Campbell!