Tyler Campbell was 22 years old – the youngest head football coach in the state – when he coached his first game at Covington in 2020. His team threw 34 passes, four interceptions and lost by six touchdowns.
“When you’re throwing the ball 40 times and you lose your first game by 40 points,” said Campbell, “you get some questions.”
When Campbell moved on to Maconaquah the following year, his first game was remarkably similar: a 48-0 loss. His team attempted 34 passes, threw two interceptions and made nine first downs. More questions.
Maconaquah had been a double wing, run-oriented team for two years prior to Campbell’s arrival. “The forward pass was foreign,” he said. Maconaquah started 18 freshmen and sophomores. The team finished 2-6. But Campbell was undaunted. He knew his offensive system – well, not his exactly – would work eventually.
Sure enough, quarterback Braxton Birner passed for nearly 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2022. Maconaquah improved to 6-4. In 2023, Birner threw for 2,999 yards and 36 TDs and the team went 7-4.
“There were flashes of what we could be early,” Campbell said. “But we weren’t very good. Kudos to the kids and community there. They didn’t flinch and stayed bought in. In Year 2 we had some success, scored more points and took a big step forward. After that it was smooth sailing as far as, ‘Hey, we’re going to throw the ball, not huddle and those kinds of things.'”
Campbell, 27, planned on staying at Maconaquah at least another year. But his coaching journey, already one of the most unique in the state, took another turn when Ben Davis offensive coordinator Caleb Small was hired as the head coach at Northwestern High School near Kokomo. Ben Davis coach Russ Mann met Campbell through a coaching development Zoom meeting in the offseason. When Small left for Northwestern, Mann called Campbell.
“We weren’t looking to leave,” Campbell said. “But when Ben Davis (the defending Class 6A state champions) calls, you take that one. It was kind of the luck of the draw that those Zoom meetings led to me getting to know those guys and building those relationships. The timing all worked out.”
Mann said he knew Small’s name would come up soon for a head coaching job for any athletic director doing their homework. Campbell was impressive not only with X’s and O’s during those meetings but also with how he presented himself. Mann wanted to hire him before another Class 6A program did.
“We heard the crucial characteristics needed,” Mann said. “Humility, hunger, knowledge, understanding and stability.”
There was nothing in Campbell’s background to suggest he would become one of the sharpest young offensive minds in coaching. He attended Attica, which was then a strong Class A program under coach Ryan Good, who featured a wing-T offense. Campbell, who graduated in 2015, carried the ball occasionally but was mostly a 5-7, 150-pound blocking back.
“Trying to block linebackers on belly (series),” said Campbell, “wasn’t a good recipe for me.”
Campbell started out in college at Purdue with the intention of becoming a neurosurgeon. “Then I realized I didn’t want to be in school that long,” he said. He got into education with the intention of coaching football. While he was still in school, Campbell helped out coaching middle school football, then got on Lafayette Jeff’s staff. As he finished out in college, he talked to his then-finance and now-wife Kenzie about trying his hand at coaching in college before they started their family.
Campbell had an interest in the “Air Raid” offenses from the coaching tree of Hal Mumme, Mike Leach, Dana Holgorsen and others and started emailing those coaches about potential jobs. In 2018, Mumme was the offensive coordinator at Jackson State, which needed a video coordinator.
“I said, ‘Hey, don’t even pay me but let me come to the meetings and I’ll be your video guy,’” Campbell said. “Hal and I clicked.”
From there, Campbell went to Division III Illinois Wesleyan as a wide receivers and special teams coach, then connected with Mumme again when he became the offensive coordinator for Bob Stoops of the XFL’s Dallas Renegades.
“It was a blast,” Campbell said of his time in the XFL. “It’s football all the time. When I was at Illinois Wesleyan, you wear a lot of hats. In the XFL, everybody had those hats. Your job on the football side is just football. You are breaking down film, but you aren’t cutting and uploading film. You are not scouting the free agent portal or whatever. And the really fun part was seeing what level of execution those guys can achieve in just a few reps. It was really fun. I learned a lot again from coach Mumme but also Scott Spurrier, who was the tight ends coach and brilliant with how efficient he is as a coach. Coach Stoops and the leadership stuff he does is phenomenal. We were going to hang there for a while but then COVID hit and the whole thing shut down.”
Campbell had planned to stay on and coach in the XFL but when the league folded, it was time to revisit plans again.
“I was planning to coach QBs (in the XFL) for a few years,” he said. “Then it was like, ‘Well, I can either go be a GA at Northern Arizona or something or go be a high school coach.”
In a few short years, Campbell learned a lot from Mumme and others in his coaching tree. In 2019, he attended the American Football Coaches Association convention in San Antonio. Mumme, who always stays at the historic Menger Hotel in San Antonio, invited him to come hang out with him and some fellow coaches after the convention.
“Coach Leach is there, coach Holgorsen is there, all these big names,” Campbell said. “I was too scared to talk. But I’m sitting there listening to them talk along with their GAs and quality control coaches who are also too scared to talk or cough wrong. But that’s kind of how the tree spreads. Those young guys get to learn and work on those staffs, and I think guys like us enjoy sort of spreading the ‘Air Raid’ gospel. Probably every coaching tree works that way.”
Campbell said “80 to 90%” of his coaching philosophy comes from Mumme, including all of his passing game and practice tempo. Some of his running game philosophy comes from his time coaching on Pat Shanley’s staff at Lafayette Jeff.
There is of course an adjustment period any time a new offensive style is introduced. But Campbell does not expect the transition at Ben Davis will be as dramatic as it was at Covington or Maconaquah, considering the talent and previous style. The Giants will have a new but talented quarterback in senior Isaiah Rogers and talented skill position players like senior running backs Alijah Price and Isaac White and Notre Dame commit Mark Zackery IV at receiver.
“It’s easier than coming from the double wing, that’s for sure,” Campbell said. “To the untrained eye, it will look the same. We’ll be in the shotgun, have receivers and tight ends, that sort of stuff. But how we’re teaching things might change. How the quarterback is making his decisions might be different. We give our receivers a lot of freedom on routes they run, which is different. But I’m also not an idiot – I don’t think. We’re going to run some stuff they’ve done here that has been successful. A lot of stuff is a pretty easy transition. It’s just the details of how we do it.”
Balance will be key. But not a 50-50 balance from run to pass like a lot of coaches preach.
“It’s more about getting the five eligibles equal touches,” Campbell said. “That’s a ‘Mumme-ism.’ (Alijah Price) is still going to touch the ball 20 times a game. It just might be in different ways. We’ve probably got between seven and 10 guys who can help us on Friday nights with the ball in their hands. We’re going to use them in different ways.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New Ben Davis offensive coordinator Tyler Campbell brings 'Air Raid' attack to Giants
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