The secret weapon behind the most stunning rebuilds in college basketball is ready to lead his own team

• Oregon associate head coach Mark Campbell is ready to lead a team of his own.
• The master recruiter has brought many NBA and WNBA talents to up-and-coming programs.
• Insider spoke to Campbell, Sabrina Ionescu, and Satou Sabally about the coach's stunning record.

Before Sabrina Ionescu was a national sensation and the face of college basketball, she was like any other senior in high school, weighing her options and struggling to make a college decision.

The only difference, of course, was her status as a top-tier high school recruit. Ionescu knew that her choice could and ultimately would change the landscape of the NCAA. It's a heavy burden to place on the shoulders of an 18-year-old, especially one as considerate and discerning as this 18-year-old.

That was never lost on Mark Campbell, the assistant coach who led Oregon's longshot effort to land Ionescu despite the Ducks' absence from the NCAA Tournament for upwards of a decade.

"You weren't going to trick Sabrina," Campbell told Insider. "She is the most street smart man or woman that I've ever dealt with in my college career. And so that played to my advantage where all I did is speak in truth and honesty in the recruiting process."

"You had to really get to know her, which a lot of people don't get that deep with the kid," he added. "And we did that for four years."

Patience was a virtue throughout the crafty point guard's recruiting process, which was "unorthodox," she told Insider, and didn't come to a close until "the day before summer school started." But as other coaches and recruiters tightened their grips in an attempt to force Ionescu into making a decision, Campbell exercised patience and restraint, knowing that "if we can land this one, it's going to change the trajectory of Oregon women's basketball forever."

He was right- and, boy, did it pay off.

"I don't think I would be at Oregon if it wasn't for Coach Campbell," Ionescu said. "The level of commitment that he had recruiting me and the honesty and character that he showed through that was one that I knew wasn't fake. He was definitely honest and really sold the vision. And I bought it because I saw it as well."

"Through the recruiting process, there's really no one better just as a person and human," she added. "Because he didn't only care about you as a basketball player, and he just cares about you as a person."

Campbell's recruiting success began on the men's side of college basketball

Born into a love for the game thanks to his older brothers, Campbell grew into a respectable player known as an "elite defender and a pass-first point guard." His greatest attribute, he said, was his "vision and basketball IQ," both of which made him a standout baller in high school and carried him from Cal Poly to Clackamas Community College and, later, to the University of Hawaii.

And though his basketball knowledge is formidable, it was Campbell's compassion that led him back to the Pacific Northwest and kick-started his coaching career. After helping the Warriors to an NCAA Tournament bid, he returned to Clackamas for his "dream job" - teaching and assistant coaching while running an elite boys Nike EYBL team. He "wanted to give back to that group of kids that are at community colleges," and he did, but he was quickly noticed by some bigger power players in college basketball. Shortly after that, Campbell earned his first Division I offer.

He took his talents to Pepperdine, a program with nothing more than a handful of NCAA Tournament appearances to its name. Still, he lured in an impressive class of top-ranked recruits, including a budding NBA star by the name of Paul George.

"The first step is being able to identify the talent," Campbell said of his recruiting efforts. "You have to have an eye that can identify who the special ones are. And that's tricky because if you just look at the NBA or WNBA draft, they don't always accurately assess who'll be the next superstar."

But Campbell could, time and time again. And once he did, he knew that the question at hand became, "can you truly build a relationship with these kids - men or women - that is real and authentic?"

"I think that's one of the gifts I have is in my recruiting my ability to build those relationships with the families and the kids," Campbell said. "There really isn't any sales. It is based on brutal honesty, keeping it real with good things, bad things. The way I go about it, I think, is different than the majority of the industry."

So when Pepperdine's head coach resigned and his recruits scattered to the wind, Campbell was able to pick up where he left off. He moved on to St. Mary's and worked with other future NBA players, including Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova. While with the Gaels, Campbell "learned the whole industry" from head coach Randy Bennett, whose coaching tree includes a handful of Division I coaches.

"He's a great teacher - very detailed and has developed an amazing culture there," Campbell said of Bennett. "So I am just incredibly indebted to those two years that I got to work and learn from him."

But just as Campbell got settled in the Bay Area - and St. Mary's found breakout success with a Sweet 16 run in the NCAA tournament - his phone rang with an offer he couldn't refuse.

Campbell left an elite position with a men's team for "the worst job in women's college basketball"

Shortly after his eldest daughter Maley was born, Campbell had the chance to move his young family back to the Pacific Northwest via an assistant coaching position with the Oregon State Beavers' women's team. He took the gig despite the bleak outlook for the program, which "had imploded" and only featured "one scholarship player on the roster" when he arrived on campus.

"It was a drastic change," Campbell said. "In hindsight, it was an amazing opportunity to go cut your teeth and try to dig out of a deep, deep hole at Oregon State, where they had no tradition and limited resources and facilities."

Over the next four years, Campbell's recruiting prowess and coaching acumen helped sow the seeds for a Final Four program. He brought in multiple future WNBA players, including Sydney Weise and Jamie Weisner, helped developed the guards and offensive schemes for head coach Scott Rueck.

By the time the 2014 season came around, the Beavers were a top-25 team in the nation and made their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1996. Never one to become complacent, Campbell decided to make it his final year with Oregon State to move on to another project.

"The hard work was done at Oregon State," Campbell told me. "The Final Four pieces, the WNBA players - everything was set and built at Oregon State to have some long-term success. And so I was ready for my next challenge."

Campbell traveled a few miles south for "another major rebuilding job" at Oregon

He quickly got to work fitting himself into Kelly Graves' system and making his Ionescu-to-Eugene moonshot a reality.

But landing the superstar out of Walnut Creek, California, was far from his only big win those first few years with the Ducks. A 5-foot-10 guard out of Spain, Maite Cazorla became "the cornerstone of the program" after signing with the team "sight unseen." And Ruthy Hebard, an "under-recruited" prospect from Alaska Campbell recruited, became a bona fide star in her own right in four seasons at Oregon.

But it was Satou Sabally, a "once in a generation European talent" who Campbell believed pushed the group to a whole new level. So he traveled across the Atlantic on numerous occasions to watch her play, visit her parents, and just get to know Sabally as a human, not just a prospect.

"I remember that so well," Sabally told Insider. "It meant a lot to me that he would fly to my town ... we bonded quickly. It felt good to know someone personally and not talk to them on the phone only."

"He was the only one that I let come multiple times," she added. "Because our conversations and meetings felt natural."

Securing a commitment from the 6-foot-4 star with guard skills and a forward's frame - "a unicorn" in the basketball world - was not exactly a straightforward process for Campbell. Without that same patience, empathy, and genuineness he showed with Ionescu, Sabally would have followed through on her initial intention to attend a different school.

"I was a little bit scared," Sabally told Insider. "Oregon seemed too good to be true, and sometimes, because [Coach Campbell] never promised me anything, I thought I wouldn't play a lot ... [even though] my gut told me to go to Oregon."

But Campbell knew her by then, and he knew her well. So when Sabally broke the news that she'd be taking her talents elsewhere, Campbell encouraged her "to think about it another night," she said.

"That's all he asked for," Sabally added. "And when I did, my whole mind changed. And I knew it would be a mistake if I didn't go to Oregon."

Two Elite Eights, a Final Four, NCAA records, and multiple WNBA first-round picks later, the Ducks have cemented themselves among the upper echelons of women's college basketball, going toe-to-toe with the old guard both on the court and on the recruiting trail. According to Ionescu and Sabally, Campbell has been nothing short of instrumental in that transformation.

"He just has this 'Mark Effect' about him, and the people that he takes under his wing just have that same mentality," Ionescu said. "He's a beast. He wants to win. Whatever it is, he wants to succeed."

"The Xs and Os are important, but connecting with your players and building trust that is real and deep and authentic - that's what coaching is about"

Ionescu described spending "every single morning" during the season working out with Campbell. She credited the associate head coach with teaching her to pick and roll, a move that has since become a signature component of her game.

Sabally remembered poring over film with Campbell to hone her defensive skills - "or not," she joked. In practice, they worked together on shot creation, rebounding, and more defense.

Both former Oregon superstars who went first and second overall in last year's WNBA draft raved about their relationships with the coach. They also highlighted his influence in shaping the people they've become off the court.

"He never just treated me like a machine basketball player," Sabally said. "He knew when I needed some rest ... But he would also have conversations with me when I needed to spend more time working on something. He always kept it real with me from the beginning to now."

And when Sabally couldn't return home to Europe for the holidays, Campbell and his family would welcome her into their celebrations.

"Sometimes it got really hard for me, especially after Christmas my freshman year, because I couldn't go home," Sabally said. "He and [his wife] Ashley always took care of me and made us all feel at home since we had a lot of international players."

Sabally wasn't the only one who came to see the Campbells as family. For Ionescu, her relationship with her former coach "goes beyond basketball." Campbell talked the star through her decision to stay at Oregon for her senior year, supported her as she struggled to cope with the death of her mentor, Kobe Bryant, and grieved as her final season in Eugene came to a premature close because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campbell is ready for his "next challenge" - helming a program of his own

Finding a foothold at an ailing program and pouring in blood, sweat, and tears to lay the groundwork for eventual success has become the story of Campbell's career. As has become a recurring theme, Campbell is prepared for his next opportunity after seeing that success to fruition with Oregon.

However, this time, he's ready for a twist to the narrative; he wants to become a head coach.

"My personal goal is to be a head coach and to have the opportunity to lead my own program and to mentor these young women," Campbell said. "That's my next step. That's my next challenge."

And he'll have some power players in his corner should he get the nod to take over a school's program. Even though Ionescu's and Sabally's blood runs green and yellow, both Ducks legends expressed undying loyalty to the coach who brought them so much during and after their time at Oregon.

"I would have any school or player call me, and I'd simply tell the truth," Sabally said. "He is qualified and has made a huge impact on who I have become as a player and person."

"Wherever Mark goes, I'm a fan," Ionescu added. "I'll be a fan forever wherever he goes because of who he is and how successful that program is going to be ... Any team that is passing on him or has passed on him is making a mistake and the next team that's going to take a chance with him as head coach is making the right move."