Randy Smith
Former Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe defensive coordinator Bo Campbell was hired on Tuesday as the Warriors' new head football coach. Even though he has continued teaching at LFO, he and his brother Jason have been coaching on Charles Fant's staff at Notre Dame for the past three years. When Bo was introduced to the faculty as the new head coach on Tuesday afternoon, he received a standing ovation from his fellow teachers. " It was a very emotional day. I have some great friends on the LFO faculty that supported me even when I was at Notre Dame," Campbell said.
"I would arrive at school Monday morning and they would congratulate my brother and me or ask us about our Friday night game. I really believe some of them wanted me to get the job as much as I did. This faculty will always have a special place in my heart and I have already asked them to help me build this program because it takes all of us."
Campbell has had prior head coaching experience. Before coaching at LFO the first time, he spent two seasons as the head coach at Chattanooga Central High School. "I feel I have always had the same beliefs and values as a coach in being a positive role model and father-figure. However I believe it is important to always learn and mature as a person. I have had a great opportunity to learn some new and improved ideas from other college and high school coaches each year, and I will always be thankful for that."
Not that he really needed them, Bo received endorsements from some heavy hitters in the world of college football. Former Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer called on Bo's behalf, as did former U.T. offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who is currently the head coach at Duke. " One great lesson from the game of football is the lesson of teamwork and family," he said. "I was blessed to to have played with such great coaches and role models like Coach Fulmer and Coach Cutcliffe. They will always be a part of my family and helped to create special memories for me at Tennessee. I was honored that with their busy schedules, they would take the time to call the school and give me a great reference. Along with my parents and some other family and friends , they both were instrumental in helping me be the person I am today."
A more experienced, more mature Bo Campbell will be leading the Warriors into battle this fall, and I feel safe in saying, the standing "O" he received from the LFO faculty on Tuesday, won't be his last.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.