BUIES CREEK, N.C. – As the next era in Campbell University athletics dawns, let's take a moment to review the most successful stint in Fighting Camel Division I history.
 
Campbell will officially join the Colonial Athletic Association on Saturday (July 1, 2023) and begin competition in 20 CAA sponsored sports this fall.
 
With Fighting Camel fans anticipating league rivalries with the likes of College of Charleston, Elon, NC A&T, UNCW and William & Mary, the foundation for the move to the CAA was laid by a 12-year tenure that produced the most titles and NCAA appearances since the Camels first joined the NCAA's top level in 1977.
 
As a charter member, Campbell competed in the Big South from 1984-94 before moving to the Atlantic Sun (formerly known as the Trans America Athletic Conference) in the summer of '94.  After 17 years in the ASUN, the Camels returned to the Big South in the fall of 2011 and CU athletes and coaches lifted more trophies than ever before.
 
In the 12-year stint from 2011 through 2023 – even including the spring 2020 season when sports were halted by the Covid-19 pandemic – Campbell teams won 52 Big South Conference titles, including 32 tournament trophies and 20 regular season crowns.
 
That averages out to better than four conference titles annually.
 
The Baseball team won a combined 10 titles (5 tournament, 5 regular season), while the women's golf team captured nine of a possible 11 (including the last seven straight).  The softball team won the Big South regular season and tournament championship in each of the last three years.
 
Campbell also won Big South championships in men's and women's basketball, men's cross country, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's tennis, men's indoor track & field, volleyball.
 
Along the way, Campbell teams made 31 NCAA appearances, in addition to 45 individual trips to NCAA Championship competition.
 
Since the fall of 2011, 86 Campbell student-athletes earned Big South player of the year awards, 47 were chosen as freshman of the year and 32 as scholar-athlete of the year.  Thirty-seven times, Fighting Camels were named Big South coach of the year.
 
The Big South bestowed all-conference awards on Campbell athletes 1,007 times from 2011-23, in addition to 172 all-tournament honors and 87 all-freshman recognition.
 
Beyond Big South competition, Campbell athletes competed in Major League Baseball (Matt Marksberry, Cedric Mullins, Ryan Thompson, Zach Neto) and the National Basketball Association (Chris Clemons).  Michelle Koh represented her native Malaysia in the 2016 Rio Olympics golf competition.
 
All told, since the men's soccer team won the first Big South title in 1984, Campbell enters the CAA with 122 conference championships, including 35 Big South crowns from '84-94 and 27 ASUN trophies from 1994-2011, plus its eight Southern Conference wrestling championships since 2017.