Justin Haire was in the final year of his initial contract after being promoted to head coach at Campbell when he sat down in the office of athletic director Bob Roller. It was late in 2017, with Opening Day still more than two months away—the perfect time to think and talk about big-picture planning.
Haire had taken over the program following the 2014 season, promoted when Greg Goff left to become the head coach at Louisiana Tech. In his three seasons, the Camels had been a middle of the pack team in the Big South Conference and were coming off a 25-32 season, their worst since 2011. Campbell had been to only one regional in more than 20 years—that was in 2014—but Roller was thinking big.
Roller, who has since moved into non-profits, explained he wanted to make Campbell a mid-major power like Louisiana-Lafayette, Haire said. In 2014, the Ragin’ Cajuns ranked No. 1 in the Top 25 and in 2017 opened the
