Campbell named new AD at Greenwood

Mike Campbell has spent almost his entire professional life at Greenwood Community High School; there aren’t many people in the building who understand the soul of the Woodmen more thoroughly.

So it makes complete sense for Campbell to be the one tasked with helping navigate Greenwood athletics through an uncertain future.

Campbell, who has been in the school since 1996 as a coach and an English teacher, was approved as the Woodmen’s new athletic director on Tuesday night and introduced publicly on Wednesday. He succeeds Rob Irwin, who quietly departed in July to become the AD at Homestead.

The 49-year-old Campbell and athletic secretary Lindsey Glaze have been running the bulk of the daily operation since Irwin left. Campbell, who notes that Irwin had basically been grooming him for the job over the last two or three years, calls Glaze a “rock star” who has made the transition period far more manageable.

“She’s incredible,” Campbell said. “The things that she does and keeps organized, she’s been an invaluable resource down there in helping out in all facets. She knows pretty much every concept and facet of the job.”

Campbell, who is about to start his 17th season as the head football coach after nine years as an assistant, will stay in that position through this season and then step down. It will be, he says, a “bittersweet move,” but the timing works out with his middle son Carter being a senior this fall.

When asked if he’d considered stepping down right away and handing the keys to his assistants, Campbell said that he’d have had confidence in his staff to capably steer the ship, but he wasn’t quite ready to walk away.

“I felt like I owed it to the kids and the parents to see it through and get closure,” he said.

During Campbell’s tenure thus far, Greenwood has won 84 games, the 2012 Mid-State Conference title and Class 4A sectional and regional championships in 2017. He’s proud of how the Woodmen have acquitted themselves on the gridiron, and there are aspects of the job he’ll miss — 6 a.m. offseason workouts aren’t one of them — but he’s excited for this next phase of his career at the school.

“It’ll be different,” he said, “but in the long term I think it’s going to be a good move for me and everybody involved.”