The man who took over Tuskegee’s spot in the Turkey Day Classic will now take over the school who bowed out from it. Former Stillman AD Curtis Campbell will become the next athletic director at Tuskegee University, the school announced in a press release Monday morning.
Campbell was hired one year to the day that his successor, Patrick Simon, was hired. Simon resigned in March, siting personal reasons. Campbell is a SIAC veteran, having served four years at Kentucky State prior to the six he spent at Stillman. The release by Tuskegee listed some of Campbell’s accomplishments at Stillman.
During his time, Stillman posted a number of first-time events in competition: the school’s first NCAA national outdoor track and field champion, the department’s first SIAC tennis titles, the men’s basketball team reached the South Region final — the best an SIAC school had accomplished in recent history; and the baseball team won their first game in NCAA region play and reached the South Region final for the first time in program history.
Before Simon left this spring, Tuskegee decided to opt-out of its annual meeting with Alabama State in the Turkey Bowl in hopes of seeking a playoff run. That decision ruffled quite a few feathers among the Tuskegee faithful, but Campbell quickly capitalized on the opening and signed Stillman up to play ASU, a member of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.
Now, Campbell will try to bring some stability to one of the more storied athletic traditions in HBCU sports. Only time will tell if Campbell can make the type of strides at Tuskegee that he did at Stillman, but if he can, the future looks very golden in Tuskegee.