SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State head women's basketball coach Mark Campbell announced Tuesday that he will be stepping down from his position with the Hornets to take the head coaching job at TCU.
A national search for his successor will begin immediately.
"I would like to thank Coach Campbell for his leadership in directing our women's basketball program to new heights," Director of Athletics Mark Orr said. "He recruited and developed champion student-athletes on and off the basketball court. Sacramento State is committed to building upon the foundation of success that Mark has established. We wish Mark and his family the very best in his next journey."
Added Campbell, "I couldn't be more grateful for the last two seasons at Sacramento State. As a staff, we saw a tremendous opportunity to build this program into something special and we achieved something that had never been done before. I would like to thank everyone — the administration, the staff, and the fans — for their support of our program, but especially the group of amazing young women that I have had the honor to coach over the last two years, watching them grow and reach their goals both on and off the court.
"I am grateful to Athletics Director Mark Orr for his leadership in helping us succeed during my time at Sacramento State and the program is in great hands moving forward."
Engineering the most successful turnaround in school history, Campbell leaves the Hornets after taking the reins of a program that won just three games two seasons ago and turning Sacramento State into a 25-game winner and NCAA Tournament qualifier in 2022-23.
After posting one of the nation's best year-to-year improvements in wins with 14 wins during his debut season in 2021-22, the Hornets finished 25-8 overall and 13-5 in the Big Sky Conference this season. The team won a share of the program's first-ever league regular-season title, the school's first-ever Big Sky Tournament championship, and earned the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth as the No. 13 seed at No. 4-seed UCLA.
He was named Co-Coach of the Year in the Big Sky — the first-ever to win that award in school history — while mentoring back-to-back Big Sky Most Valuable Players in Lianna Tillman and Kahlaijah Dean along with two-time all-conference selection Isnelle Natabou.
The 25 victories are the most by either the men's or women's program at Sacramento State, while it was the first-ever 20-win season for the women's basketball program, breaking the previous record of 19 set in 1990-91 (19-7) and tied in 2012-13 (19-12). Meanwhile, the 13 wins in Big Sky play were the most for the program since the 2014-15 squad won 13 games.
This year's team also added their names to the Sacramento State record books, setting school single-season team records for field goal (.465) and three-point (.385) percentage while the defense posted the second-lowest opponent scoring average in school history (59.9 ppg). Along the way, this year's team also ranked fourth in free throw percentage (.726), fifth in three-pointers made (293), fifth in blocked shots (114), sixth in points (2,261), and ninth in field goals made (809).
In the Big Sky, this year's Hornets led the league in scoring margin (+8.6 ppg), field goal percentage (.465), three-point percentage (.385), rebounding defense (29.2 rpg), and blocked shots, while finishing second in scoring defense (59.9 ppg) and third in field goal percentage defense (.388).
Nationally, the Hornets currently rank No. 4 in the nation in three-point percentage, No. 11 in three-pointers per game, and No. 12 in field goal percentage.
