Chris Campbell - Football Coach - Iowa State Athletics

Chris Campbell is in his first season as director of strength and conditioning for the Iowa State football program.

Campbell, an Iowa State alum and native of Cherokee, Iowa, was a walk-on member of the Cyclone football team in 2008 before working as a student assistant in the weight room from 2011-13 under Yancy McKnight on Paul Rhoads’ staff.

Campbell spent the 2024-25 seasons at UTEP as the director of strength and conditioning for the Miners.

The stop in El Paso, Texas came after a successful five-year stint (2019-23) at Austin Peay. While with the Governors, Campbell worked for three conference championship teams that reached the FCS Playoffs in 2019 and 2023. He coached 21 All-Americans and 58 all-conference selections in five seasons.

He also worked four seasons at Houston (2015-18) where his teams went 37-15, including a 13-1 record in 2015 that saw the Cougars win the Peach Bowl. The last two seasons at Houston, Campbell was the director of football sports performance for the Cougars. He trained 11 NFL Draft picks and five All-Americans at Houston.

After leaving Iowa State, Campbell was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Louisiana from 2013-15. The 2013 Ragin’ Cajuns team won the Sun Belt Conference Championship and the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the first of back-to-back wins in the bowl game.

Campbell earned his bachelor's degree in kinesiology with a concentration in exercise science from Iowa State in 2013.

He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and American Red Cross CPR and First Aid certified.