Growing up as a coach’s son in rural Archer City, Texas, much of Lake Highlands High School Football Head Coach and Athletic Coordinator Cory Campbell’s early life revolved around football. He spent his early years on sidelines and in locker rooms. In high school, he played quarterback for three years in a town where he says Friday night lights were everything.
Lake Highlands coach Cory Campbell speaks to his team. Photography by Mike Duhon.
“Football has been a huge part of my life,” Campbell says. “Growing up in a small town, whatever you do, the town supports. And I was fortunate to be on some really, really good high school football teams. And, at the end of the day, it just helped mold me and help grow me up.”
Lake Highlands has won the district championship in each of his first two seasons at the helm and has been picked to win a third this season by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
Campbell, however, isn’t wasting any time fantasizing about a three-peat.
He’s focused on next Friday night.
The third-year head coach says he doesn’t really believe in circling games on the calendar or looking past regular season opponents toward potential school records. His attitude, apparently, has paid off, with Lake Highlands finishing the 2024 season undefeated in district play.
Following high school, football took Campbell to Cisco Junior College next, where he played on the football team before finishing with his degree at Texas A&M University. While at Texas A&M, he student-taught and volunteer coached at Texas A&M Consolidated High School in College Station under legendary Head Coach Ross Rogers.
After spending a few years at Lake Dallas and other Texas high schools, Campbell was hired as offensive coordinator under then-LHHS Head Coach Scott Smith in 2010. In his time as offensive coordinator, Campbell was a key part of both ending a decade-long playoff victory drought in 2019 and the Wildcats’ first undefeated regular season finish in 25 years in 2020. Most of his tenure was spent under Lonnie Jordan, who he says played a key role in his development as coach.
“I can’t remember what year Lonnie came in, and he’s another great friend of mine, a mentor that was super, super good to me,” Campbell says. “He’s one of my best friends. At the end of the day, it was an opportunity for me to kind of continue being the offensive coordinator, but at the same time, get to work alongside a guy every day was special, coming to work.”
In 2023, after Jordan left to serve as Highland Park ISD’s athletic coordinator, Campbell was named the school’s head football coach and athletic coordinator.
The team met immediate success, winning the UIL District 7-6A Championship in his first season as head coach with Campbell still calling plays.
“We had a very tight nucleus of people in our building that were vying for one thing,” Campbell says. “It was huge. That first year, you know, we got a huge win over Highland Park. I don’t think anybody but the guys in our building thought we could do it. It was special for me.”
Lake Highlands coach Cory Campbell speaks with his team. Mike Duhon Photography
Lake Highlands went on to beat South Grand Prairie in a nailbiter 42-38 first-round playoff game before falling to Prosper in the area round.
When asked about the culture he’s trying to build, Campbell responds with his usual actions-speak-louder restraint. It’s not something easy to fit into a sentence.
“It’s not something that’s on a T-shirt,” he says. “It’s not something that’s hanging on a banner.”
Still, when he thinks of culture, two words come to mind: relationships and accountability.
“I believe the relationship piece is first and foremost when you talk about culture,” Campbell says. “I think every year there’s ways we fall short, ways that it’s happened this year a little bit already we needed to get this corrected. We need to fix this. And when you see those things and you try to correct them, I think that’s another part of culture that you realize, ‘Hey, we need to get better here. This isn’t up to our standard.’”
After setting that standard in 2023, Lake Highlands finished the 2024 season without a single loss in district play, sealing back-to-back district titles for LHHS for the first time in recent memory.
Campbell has had his fair share of talent in his time at the helm with players like current Oklahoma State safety Ayden Webb and four-star Southern Methodist University commit Christian Rhodes. Roster turnover, however, is inherent in high school football, which is why Campbell adapts his base offense and defense before each season.
“The philosophy is 100% about the kids,” he says. “One year, you may really have a tight end-type kid, and then you may go a while where you may not have a tight end-type kid. We don’t get to recruit them. And so I think the number one thing is you have to adapt to your personnel. What do our kids do? Well, what do they not do?”
This year, Campbell and the Wildcats will look to defend their title en route to a three-peat, something which he says he believes would be a school record (not that he’s worried about it). Rhodes will lead the charge alongside Highland Park transfer quarterback Chuck Smith.
Tough games in October will come against Jesuit Dallas, Berkner and Pearce. Campbell, however, says he doesn’t enjoy “rivalry” games or assigning special significance to a matchup.
“I’m not a big rivalry guy or look forward to it guy,” he says. “I think at the end of the day, I love playing all those teams, but I don’t love it until we get into the week of. I know Berkner, we share a stadium with and rivalry and all that stuff, and I’ve got tremendous respect for Coach Bryant and the job he does over there and, man, when we play Berkner, it’s going to be the biggest game of our life, right?”
Campbell recently moved his wife and three children to Lake Highlands after years of commuting. He says he enjoys our community, which reminds him of his small town roots.
The Wildcats’ last matchup of the season will fall on Nov. 7 against Irving. Some may already have their mind on history. Campbell, in the meantime, has his eyes on the road.
“It’s exciting when you talk about it from afar, when you talk about it as a goal in the summertime, but when you get in it, being where your feet are right now, what’s going on right now, that’s the most important thing. And that’s kind of that grounded aspect that I think is truly important.”
