Now in his fifth season as the Youngstown State softball head coach, Brian Campbell has continually raised the bar for success and is determined to turn the Penguins softball program into one of the Horizon League's elite programs. 

Campbell, the winningest softball coach in Tiffin University history, was named the ninth Head Coach of the Youngstown State University softball program on June 17, 2008.

In four seasons, Campbell, who has an overall career record of 358-252-2, has sparked a rejuvenation in the program. He has more than tripled its win total from his first season to fourth and led the Guins to the three-highest team batting averages in school history - .313 in 2012, .296 in 2010 and .294 in 2011.

From winning just eight games in his first year in 2009, Campbell led the Penguins to 29 victories in 2012.

During Campbell's tenure, the Guins have also scored three of the top four single-season run totals in school history with 279 in 2012 (first), 217 in 2010 (third) and 216 in 2011 (fourth).

Just last season, the Penguins set new offensive records for hightest batting average (.313), most runs (279), most hits (428) and most runs batted in (241). Last year, also marked the second time in school history a YSU softball team has more than 400 hits. The only other time was in 2010, Campbell's second season.

After leading the Penguins to a 29-21-1 record and a fourth-place finish in the Horizon League, Campbell was named the league 2012 Coach of the Year. The 29 wins tied for the second most in school history and marked the first time since 2003 adn 2004 that YSU won at least 20 games in consecutive seasons.

Haley Thomas set the single-season hits record with 72 and Jordan Ingalls moved into second on the list with 70. The old record of 64 was set by Amanda Berry in 2004.

Thomas also became YSU's all-time hits leader 233 while Ingalls moved into third with 228.

The duo of Thomas and Ingalls also became the only two players in school history to bat above .400 in the same season. Thomas batted .431 and Ingalls hit . 405.

Vicky Rumph was named second-team All-Horizon League and Kayla Haslett was selected to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team. Rumph was also named Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America Third-Team.

Casey Crozier became the first pitcher to win more than 10 games in each of her first two season after posting 13 victories in 2012. Her 127 strikeouts rank third on the single-season list and she alreay ranks four on the all-time chart with 224.

In 2011, Campbell led the Guins to its first 20-win season since 2006 and set a school mark for most runs batted in with 198.

Jordan Ingalls led the Horizon League with a .385 batting average and was named to the All-Horizon League First-Team and Kim Klonowski earned All-Horizon League Second-Team honors.

Ingalls was also a Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Third-Team selection while Vicky Rumph earned Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV First-Team honors.

Campbell, who posted his 300th career victory on April 4, 2010, has won 307 games in 10 years as a head coach.

In 2010, Campbell guided the Penguins to one of their best offensive seasons in school history and nearly doubled their win total from the previous season. The Penguins set the school record for highest team batting average (.296) and most hits in a season (402) and tied the school mark for most home runs in a season (39).

The Guins also scored the second-highest number of runs in school history (217) and also drove in the second-highest number of runs (188) in a season.

Vicky Rumph was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team after batting .327 with 26 runs batted and tying for the team lead with eight home runs.

Haley Thomas led the team with a .370 batting average with 10 doubles, six triples and eight home runs, and her .648 slugging percentage was the fourth-highest single-season mark in school history.

In 2009, Kim Klonowski was named to the All-Horizon League Second-Team after posting a .329 batting average with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 32 runs batted in.

Beginning in August of 2010, Campbell was named to a two-year team on the NFCA Division I Head Coaches Commmittee to represent the Horizon League.

Campbell is also in the first year of a three-year term on the NCAA Regional Softball Rankings Committee for the Mideast Region.

Campbell, who spent eight years as head coach and 12 years overall working with the Lady Dragons' softball program, posted an impressive 285-129-1 overall record and a .688 winning percentage during his tenure.

Campbell transitioned Tiffin into an NCAA Division II program from the NAIA, and in its first season as an NCAA Division II, Independent the Dragons finished with a 27-14-1 record. Tiffin was ranked as high as 32nd in the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) national polls in 2008 while moving as high as 13th in the NAIA national rankings in 2007.

Campbell, who has averaged 36 wins per season, was named American Midwest Conference (AMC) North Coach of the Year in 2007 for the third consecutive season after leading the Dragons to a 37-11 mark, a Region IX Championship and their second straight appearance in the NAIA National Softball Tournament.

In 2006, Campbell guided Tiffin to an impressive 57-11 overall record and the program's first Region IX title and first NAIA National Tournament appearance.

Campbell led Tiffin to four-consecutive AMC North Championships from 2004 to 2007 and the AMC Championship in 2002 with a 25-3 conference record and a 31-17 overall mark.
During the 2005 campaign, the Dragons compiled a 34-22 overall mark and an 11-1 conference record on the way to their third conference title in four years.

Campbell led Tiffin to a perfect 14-0 conference record and a 39-15 overall mark during the 2004 AMC North Championship season.

The Dragons earned conference runner-up honors in 2003 with a 33-20 overall mark and a 16-4 league record. They won their first league title in 2002 after posting a 25-3 conference record and a 31-17 overall mark.

After four seasons as an assistant coach, Campbell took over the Tiffin program in 2001 and posted a 27-19 overall record.

Campbell has coached 39 All-Conference selections, including 2007 Region and Conference Pitcher of the Year Krista Sowers, 2006 AMC North Player of the Year Kristina Schweikert, 2005 AMC North Player of the Year Denita Robinson, 2005 AMC North Pitcher of the Year and 2004 AMC North Player of the Year Rachel Richardson and 2002 AMC Player of the Year Kate Siroky.

He also serves as a national rater for softball for the NFCA Division II Top 25 poll and is a member of the NFCA Division II Head Coaches Committee.

Campbell, who also served as Assistant Athletic Director, is a 1994 graduate of Tiffin University with a degree in criminal justice. He also has a master's degree in criminal justice from Tiffin.

Campbell played for the Tiffin football team from 1990-94 on the offensive line, helping to lead the Dragons to their first-ever National Tournament appearance.

He also served as an assistant football coach from 1997-2000 and was an assistant coach at Newark High School.

He and his wife, Kristi, have a daughter, Courtney.