The Billionaire Shaking Up College Football

Cody Campbell is one of the richest oil businessmen in Texas. He made billions drilling for oil in the West Texas desert. Now he is using that money and his connections to President Donald Trump to try to change college football forever. Campbell is the biggest financial backer of Texas Tech University, and some people love what he is doing — while others think he has gone too far.

Campbell grew up with two big loves: sports and making money. His grandmother bought him his first shares of stock when he was in grade school and taught him how to follow the market. He went on to play offensive line at Texas Tech, where he was coached by the legendary Mike Leach. Leach was famous for his love of pirates and his wide-open passing style called the Air Raid offense. Campbell still keeps a photo above his desk of the time he helped carry Leach off the field after a big win in the 2004 Holiday Bowl.

After his playing days ended, Campbell teamed up with his business partner John Sellers to start an oil and gas company called Double Eagle Energy Holdings. They had a rough start, scraping by deal to deal. Over time, they found success by buying up small oil leases across the Permian Basin and selling them together in bigger packages. So far, Campbell has helped build and sell about $15 billion worth of businesses. 'We nearly killed ourselves doing it,' Campbell says.

Campbell never stopped caring about Texas Tech football. He was upset when the program started losing after Coach Leach was fired in 2009. In 2021, he publicly criticized the football coach at the time, and not long after, that coach was let go. Campbell's growing influence at the school became very clear. He was serving on the school's Board of Regents, a group that helps run the university.

When new rules in 2019 and 2021 allowed college athletes to earn money by using their name, image, and likeness — often called NIL — Campbell jumped at the chance. He co-founded a group called the Matador Club that raised hundreds of millions of dollars to pay Texas Tech athletes. The result was stunning: the football team finished in the top 10 nationally, won a conference title, and made the College Football Playoff. 'When Cody Campbell says something, then he's going to follow through with it,' said Tech head coach Joey McGuire.

Campbell also connected his sports work to politics. He gave more than $3 million to Republican candidates and has posted photos of himself golfing with President Trump. When Trump won the 2024 election, Campbell pushed for new laws to fix problems in college sports. Trump named Campbell to a national council on sports, and White House officials now see him as one of the three most important people working on college sports reform, alongside former Alabama coach Nick Saban and New York Yankees president Randy Levine.

The bill Campbell helped create is called the Protect College Sports Act. It was introduced by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Maria Cantwell of Washington. The bill would set national rules for NIL money, protect women's sports programs, and let powerful conferences sell their TV rights together like the NFL does. Campbell believes this could bring in an extra $7 billion each year for college sports. 'He's devoted more hours to saving college sports, more money to it and more energy to it than frankly anyone else in the country,' said Senator Cruz.

Not everything went smoothly for Campbell. He spent around $4 million to bring quarterback Brendan Sorsby to Texas Tech, but Sorsby was ruled ineligible after admitting he had placed more than $90,000 in bets — including bets on his own team. Campbell was caught off guard and defended Sorsby publicly. A local judge briefly allowed Sorsby to play again, but the NCAA fought back. Sorsby eventually gave up his college eligibility and plans to enter the NFL Draft.

The gambling scandal made Campbell and Texas Tech look bad to many in college football. Critics said Campbell used his wealth to get whatever he wanted, and some questioned a large political donation he made around the time a politician wrote a letter defending Texas Tech. Campbell denied making any deal. ESPN's Paul Finebaum said, 'Cody Campbell went from a speck on a dusty road in West Texas to being everywhere that anyone turned to in college football.' Not everyone agrees with his methods, but Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark says, 'Cody Campbell has a seat at the table.'

Campbell admits his proposed law may not be perfect, and he knows some people think a billionaire like him is part of the problem. But he compares himself to a bank robber who knows best how to catch other bank robbers. He says his goal is simply to make college sports better for everyone. Back in Lubbock, Campbell walks into a Board of Regents meeting, strikes his gavel twice, and says with a grin, 'It's a great day to be a Red Raider.'