Bio

2022 and 2023 SCFA Southern Conference Coach of the Year

Coach Garrett Campbell was hired full-time as an assistant coach at Fullerton College in 2016, served as Acting Head Coach in 2018 and officially became the Hornets’ head football coach in 2019. Under his leadership, the program experienced tremendous success, highlighted by multiple conference championships and national recognition. Campbell, a tenured faculty member, stepped away from the program in 2024 to take a sabbatical, during which he conducted a study of the Student-Athlete Experience Within the California Community Colleges. He returned to the sideline for the 2025 season to serve this season as the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach.

Coach Campbell is no stranger to Fullerton College. His father, Dick Campbell, served on the Hornet coaching staff for 15 seasons during the Hal Sherbeck era. As a young boy, Garrett was Fullerton College’s ball boy before later becoming a Hornet himself, playing quarterback and wide receiver from 1995–96.

As the Head Coach in 2022, Campbell guided the Hornets to the SCFA Championship Game while capturing the program’s 27th conference title with a perfect 5-0 league record and a 9-1 overall mark. Fullerton finished third overall in the state in the final 3C2A rankings. He followed that success with another dominant season in 2023, leading the Hornets to an undefeated 7-0 SCFA Southern Conference championship and a 10-1 overall record. Fullerton was ranked No. 1 in the state in the final JCAB poll released on November 13.  Campbell was named the Conference Coach of the Year for both the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Born and raised in Southern California, Campbell earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton in 1998. He later completed his master’s degree at Northern State University in 2002.

Campbell began his coaching career at Fullerton College in 1998 and went on to compile an extensive résumé with stops at Northern State University, Willamette University, Menlo College, Carthage College, and Illinois College. Prior to returning to the Hornets’ staff, he spent eight seasons as the head football coach at Illinois College, where he recorded a 51–30 overall record and led the Blueboys to their first-ever NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 2011. His tenure was highlighted by a Midwest Conference Southern Division title in 2014, earning him Division Coach of the Year honors, and by guiding the program to four consecutive winning seasons—an achievement not accomplished since the 1934–37 seasons.

Campbell’s offensive units consistently ranked among the nation’s best at the Division III level, including a No. 8 national ranking from 2011–13 and additional top-10 finishes in 2014 and 2015. Since returning to Fullerton College in 2016, he has helped sustain that same level of success, with the Hornets’ offense annually ranking near the top of the 3C2A statistical leaderboards.