(Texas Scorecard) – Cody Campbell, the new chair of Texas Tech’s Board of Regents, eyes reform and growth for the West Texas university.
The Texas Tech University System’s Board of Regents unanimously approved Campbell to serve as board chairman on April 14. He succeeds Mark Griffin in the role. The board also unanimously approved Dustin Womble to succeed Ginger Kerrick Davis as vice chair.
The Texas Tech University System is the parent body of multiple universities, including Midwestern State University, Angelo State University, and flagship Texas Tech University.
State lawmakers have given the board of regents power “to govern, control and direct the policies” of TTUS. The regents are accountable to Texans through the governor and state senate, who appoint and confirm them, respectively.
“I’m exceptionally honored to accept this position,” Campbell said after the board’s vote during its April 14 meeting. He thanked Griffin and Davis for their service. “My only hope is that I can emulate the sort of leadership that you both provided.”
Campbell expressed pride in the character that Texas Tech develops in its students.
“Texas Tech graduates are well known as having grit, toughness, and incredible work ethic,” he wrote to Texas Scorecard. “These characteristics are fundamental to the culture and ethos of West Texas, and people know that when they send their kid to Texas Tech, they’re going to come back with a good share of those qualities ingrained in them.”
In a nation of universities that have been exposed as woke indoctrination centers, Campbell stated that the home of the Red Raiders is different. “Texas Tech has been outspoken in expressing that we are absolutely not ‘woke’ and we never will be,” he wrote. “Our university community is committed to traditional American values and traditional West Texas values. Our leadership understands this clearly, and we work every day to maintain our fundamental ideals.”
Texas Tech and its football team are part of Campbell’s history.
He graduated with honors from Tech’s Rawls College of Business, earning dual bachelor’s degrees (economics and finance) and a master’s degree in finance. He also played for the Texas Tech football team, the Red Raiders. Campbell comes from a long line of Tech alumni dating back to his great-grandfather, who attended Tech in its founding years.
Drawing from his heritage at Texas Tech and in college sports, Campbell hopes to reform both as chair of the TTUS Board of Regents.
In an April 14 Federalist piece, he warned that college sports face “rapid destruction” without reform. He highlighted the risks of unionization, collective bargaining, and athletes leaving for bigger paydays. “Lost in all of this are the 500,000+ student athletes who are not receiving multi-million dollar deals and have no voice at the table,” he wrote. “They are our female athletes, our Olympic sport athletes, and our colleges and communities that are not fortunate enough to afford the high price to compete.”
To save the system, Campbell urged reaffirming student-athletes’ non-employee status and overhauling governance. He also called for clear federal payment guidelines to avoid litigation and pushed Congress to fix the “profoundly broken” college sports system.
He’s not stopping there. Campbell stated his intent to push Texas Tech to “the next level, and to the level beyond that.”
He listed growing the TTUS healthcare mission as a priority, stating that TTUS provides “the lion’s share” of healthcare and healthcare workforce training west of I-35. His other priorities for reform include positioning Midwestern State University for robust financial and enrollment stability, and growing flagship Texas Tech University not just in enrollment, but also in research.
“We are already a Carnegie R1 (or ‘Tier 1’) research institution, and have done a great job of maturing into a nationally-recognized research university, but we have a tremendous opportunity to significantly increase our research output in coming years,” Campbell wrote.
He aims to grow enrollment from over 41,000 students to 50,000 and beyond in the coming years, a goal he considers attainable. “With the growth of the economy and population of the State of Texas, we need to continue down an aggressive growth path without sacrificing our academic standards,” Campbell wrote. “Currently, too many high school seniors leave the State of Texas (for SEC schools and others), when better academic opportunities and a better student experience exist in Lubbock.”
After graduating from Texas Tech, Campbell played for the Indianapolis Colts. He later co-founded Double Eagle Energy Holdings, a natural gas and oil company in Fort Worth. He is co-CEO with business partner John Sellers, also a Texas Tech alumnus. In February, Campbell and Sellers sold subsidiary Diamondback Energy for more than $4 billion.
Campbell is also on the board of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. His current term as a TTUS regent expires January 31, 2027.