Troy University Athletics
Johnson's Journal - Campbell Reunion: Where Basketball Meets Family
12/9/2025 10:49:00 AM | Basketball (M)
For the Campbell family, basketball is definitely a way of life.
"I mean, basketball is just like our whole life, basically," Troy University sophomore guard Cooper Campbell said. "My older brother was playing and my dad coaching at the high school, so we'd always go to his games.
"And my mom played college and she coached some of our teams growing up. We were just always around basketball; always in the gym growing up."
Now, the family is thankful to be back in the same town together playing and coaching the game they love.
Cobi, a junior, and younger brother Cooper are in their second year on the men's basketball team at Troy, where their father, Scott, is in his first year as an assistant coach for the Trojans.
"It was weird seeing him the first month or two on the sidelines … like a movie that has a cameo from a different character from a different movie. That's what it felt like a little bit," Cobi said of his father coaching at Troy.
Across the street from the college campus, the mother/daughter duo of Brie and Caia Campbell are part of the Charles Henderson High School girls basketball team – Caia a standout player and Brie an assistant coach.
All things basketball
Scott and Brie Campbell first met in the late 1990s when he was hired as an assistant girls basketball coach at Oregon City High School, the alma mater of Brie, who at the time was a standout player at the University of Oregon.
"So many of the girls in that (Oregon City) program would come back for the summer and work camps … work out and play, so we just became really good friends," Scott said of his introduction to Brie.
Seven years later, the two began dating, got engaged and married.
Scott had played college basketball at Seattle Pacific (1990-93) and several years after that with Athletes In Action before going into coaching.
While he began his career as a girls basketball coach at Oregon City, his longest tenure in the prep ranks was as a head boys basketball coach at Puyallup (Wash.) High from 2007-2020.
Not surprising, the Campbell children took to the sport of basketball at early ages.
"We didn't know if the boys and my daughter were going to like basketball or not," Scott said. "Just the way things worked out, they both really liked it, and my daughter liked it."
While Scott was coaching at the high school level, he and his wife developed a feeder program and were able to coach their kids as they progressed in the sport.
"We were able to coach most of their teams growing up from first grade, second grade, third grade … all the way up through the high school," Scott said of their children.
Even away from the court, talk often centered around basketball.
"At home, watching basketball games helped our basketball IQ," Cooper said. "For example, it would be like the last 30 seconds of the game and he (Scott) would pause the TV and be like, 'OK, if you were in this situation, what are you doing here?'"
Progressing together
While Cobi is two-and-a-half years older than Cooper, the two brothers pushed each other to get better on the court. They also included their younger sister in the training.
"I think one of the things that's very unique is all three of the kids growing up just really got along," Scott said. "They literally almost never fought.
"They have arguments and stuff like that, so I don't want to paint a dream picture, but it was unusual how well they got along. And I think that's why it's worked with them playing basketball together."
Cobi was thankful to have Cooper as a workout partner.
"It just makes it a lot easier to go to the gym," Cobi said. "It's hard when you are invested into something and you have to go do it by yourself all the time. And then, once he got older and we were able to start kind of going at it a little more … testing each other out and stuff like that."
Cooper enjoyed the challenge of trying to compete with his brother.
"I mean, just every day you have somebody that is just challenging you that's better than the competition that you're going against in my grade," Cooper said. "Like, he was always two-and-a-half years stronger and more mature than the players I was playing against. It definitely helped me in my development."
Reaching the college level
Cobi averaged 21 points per game at Puyallup High School playing for his father before earning a scholarship to North Idaho College.
Scott would move on to lead the boys basketball team of Elite Prep Academy in Washington (2020-2022) before the family moved to Arizona and he coached the Phoenix Prep Academy boys team in 2023.
Cooper played for his father at Elite Prep Academy and Phoenix Prep, but it was during a summer league AAU tournament that he caught the attention of Troy basketball coach Scott Cross.
"We were playing a team from Alabama and Coach Cross was there watching one of their players and he saw me play," Cooper said. "My team played in Vegas like a week or two later. After that, he called and offered me and then I came on a visit like two weeks later and committed on my visit."
At that point, Cooper put in a few good words about his older brother. Both are guards who can fill it up from the outside.
"We talked about Cobi was just like a clone of me, basically, so he started recruiting Cobi," Cooper said. "It wasn't like a package deal, it just kind of happened."
Cobi played two years at North Idaho, averaging 16.9 points as a freshman and 11.3 as a sophomore.
"I had a pretty good freshman year, so I had taken a couple visits to some West Coast schools and stuff like that," Cobi said. "And then Coop came out here and visited and got his offer, so from that they (Troy) heard my name and there was another spot for a guard open. I think it was like two or three weeks later, I came out on a visit and loved it. It was an easy decision."
Injuries sideline Cobi
Cooper played in all 34 games last season as a freshman in helping Troy to a Sun Belt Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. Unfortunately, Cobi suffered a hip injury requiring surgery and missed the entire season.
"I tore my labrum," Cobi said. "I was dealing with it through the summer and it just kept getting worse. Then I came back in the fall and I was able to practice. It's not something that's necessarily like an ACL where you just have to stop. You can try to battle through it, so I didn't know it was torn.
"So, I'm just going through it, like, 'OK, let's just see how it goes and do treatment and stuff for it.' And then when I kind of got closer to the season is when I was like, 'Man, I still can't run and jump.' That's when we decided to get an MRI to figure it out."
Cobi decided to have the surgery October 23 and spent the season watching from the sidelines, doing the best he could to help his brother.
"It was my brother's freshman year, so I was like, 'OK, this is my third year at college, so I'm going to try to help him through some of the tough times of his first year and be positive and just try to like contribute off the court and in the locker room as much as I can,'" Cobi said.
The phone call
After Scott led the Phoenix Prep boys team in 2023, the school decided to start a girls program and asked Scott and Brie if they would lead the team, which would include their daughter, Caia.
"We jumped at the chance," said Scott, who would serve as the head coach and his wife would be the assistant. "It was awesome. A lot of growth for Caia and the other girls, and so we were planning on doing that again."
But when longtime Troy assistant Mike Worley took a job as the head basketball coach at Truman State University, another door opened for the Campbells.
"Coach Cross gives me a call out of the blue and told me about Coach Worley and the opportunity for me to come be part of the staff … I mean it was unimaginable," Scott said.
"I just feel really blessed and fortunate that both Cobi and Cooper are able to play Division I basketball and for them to have the opportunity to play together. And then a year later, for me to have the opportunity to be part of the same program and help is a dream."
A family reunion
Having the whole family back together isn't taken for granted.
"I think Cobi and Cooper gone last year was probably the most challenging on Caia, because that was her workout buddies and just kind of her life growing up, and all of a sudden those two were gone," Scott said.
"So, she was really excited about the opportunity to come out here to Troy. I mean, she's able to work out with them and do shooting workouts and spend a lot of time together."
Cobi has high praise for his sister, a junior who he believes has college basketball potential.
"She's really good," Cobi said. "She plays real similar to both of us. I'm super excited to watch her. She's definitely special for sure."
Cooper and Cobi room together along with teammates Theo Seng and Thomas Dowd, but the brothers know they can now make a quick trip home just across town whenever needed.
"Before this, I was up in Idaho and they're in Arizona," Cobi said. Â "I was basically doing it on my own.
"Now a couple times a week, I go over and get a dinner from Mom, and hang out with my sister and just enjoy my family."
And most likely, talk some basketball.
