Richard Campbell enters his seventh season with the Rutgers University sports medicine staff as the athletic trainer for the men’s basketball team. He has spent the past nine seasons, including two at Stony Brook, working with head coach Steve Pikiell to ensure the well-being of men’s basketball student-athletes.
Working closely with Assistant Athletic Director of Strength and Conditioning, David VanDyke, Campbell has made a significant impact on the health and well-being of men’s basketball student-athletes. In their initial three seasons, men’s basketball players were sidelined a total of just 17 combined games due to injury. The Scarlet Knights had three total games missed among players in 2018-19, 11 in 2017-18 and three in 2016-17.
Campbell now has the benefit of best-in-class facilities at the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center. He resides in the 1,252-square foot “Guiliano Family Basketball Treatment Center,” while utilizing sports medicine and hydrotherapy areas featuring two plunge pools. A 6,450-square foot high performance nutrition café and the 6,950 square-foot “Platek Family Strength and Conditioning Area” featuring a 40-yard inlaid turf track, cryotherapy chamber, and individualized student-athlete monitoring technology are also utilized to enhance performance.
Rutgers strives to implement the latest technologies to benefit its programs and student-athletes. In that effort, men’s basketball utilizes Sparta Science, Catapault, Polar Team Pro and GymAware. Sparta Science provides an objective measure of how players react to gravity with validated scientific assessments and provides evidence-based training prescriptions. Catapault replaces laboratory-based performance testing with microtechnology to obtain actionable data in real time regarding performance. Polar Team Pro provides real-time heart rate data to make objective decisions. GymAware is the gold standard Linear Positional Transducer (LPT with angle measurement) for measuring performance, implementing Velocity Based Training and monitoring power.
Before and after every season, men’s basketball welcomes BAM (Basic Athletic Measurement) to the RAC to conduct player testing. A team of strength and conditioning coaches and technology professionals who utilize the most reliable methods and precise measuring tools, BAM has conducted the NBA Draft combine since 2009. Results are registered to a BAMScore™, a proprietary index for reliably measuring athletic performance, and placed in a requisite category. As a result, players receive the information necessary to gauge personal and professional aspirations.
Before Stony Brook, Campbell’s primary responsibilities were at the University of Texas at San Antonio where he oversaw all sports medicine needs for baseball and volleyball student-athletes by designing and implementing athletic training policies and rehabilitation programs.
Prior to his time at UTSA, Campbell spent a year as an athletic trainer intern for the Arizona Cardinals, where he assisted with the daily operations for the teams athletic training needs. From 2009-2011, Campbell worked as a graduate student at Stephen F. Austin State University, working specifically with the Lumberjacks’ football and basketball teams. At SFA, he earned a master’s degree in Athletic Training.
He also spent two summers interning with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals before graduating, where he assisted with training practice and game responsibilities.
Campbell received a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Exercise Science in 2009 before earning his master’s degree and certification in Athletic Training in 2011. He married the former Karissa DePalma in October 2015. The couple welcomed a daughter, Collyns, in May.
Career Timeline
| Year(s) |
Position |
University/Organization |
| 2016-Present |
Athletic Trainer |
Rutgers |
| 2014-16 |
Athletic Trainer |
Stony Brook |
| 2012-14 |
Assistant Athletic Trainer |
Texas at San Antonio |
| 2010-12 |
Athletic Training Intern |
Arizona Cardinals |
| 2009-11 |
Graduate Assistant Trainer |
Stephen F. Austin State |
