Wall of Distinction 2026: Co-coaches Campbell and Riley led Griffins to a record 12 team titles in 11 seasons
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
This is the lasf of four features on the 2026 class being inducted into the MacEwan Griffins' Wall of Distinction, which will be celebrated during the department's annual Awards Gala this Saturday.
Tuesday: Linda Swallow (Marshall), Swimming
Wednesday: Melody Woolger (Howard), Women's Hockey
Thursday: Cassidy Ross (Kinsella), Women's Volleyball
Today: Jodi Campbell and Alan Riley, Golf
EDMONTON – Among the 96 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championship banners won by MacEwan teams over a 46-year run in the ACAC from 1974 to 2020, the prolific production of the Griffins golf program from 2009-20 stands out above all others.
Over those 11 seasons, co-coaches Jodi Campbell and Alan Riley led their teams to 12 championship banners – the most of any coaching staff in the history of Griffins Athletics.
They were twice named ACAC golf coaches of the year (2011 and 2012) while also helping their athletes win seven individual ACAC titles and 20 other individual medals.
Both will be inducted together into the Griffins' Wall of Distinction as part of the Class of 2026 at the upcoming MacEwan Athletics banquet on April 11.
"It's really a wonderful honour for us to be recognized like that," said Riley. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate that and how much it means to me."
Added Campbell: "This recognition is really great for Alan and I, but it's also really great for the team. Maybe that's part of the legacy as well. Those banners live on. The Wall of Distinction, it lives on.
"The 70 players that came through our program, they all have a 'We Bleed Maroon' type mentality. It was such a great experience."
Jodi Campbell and Alan Riley walk the course at Calgary's Valley Ridge during the 2019 ACAC South Regional (Brody Mark photo).
While the MacEwan golf program enjoyed a good deal of success earlier in its history with six team titles and six individual golds during a seven-year run in the 1990s, it went dormant for nearly a decade before Campbell and Riley – both MacEwan employees – were both motivated to start it back up.
They relied on their strengths, each carving out an important role that led to championship success for the program. The detail-oriented Campbell was responsible for all the administration, along with coaching. And longtime MacEwan golf management program coordinator Riley – the first PGA of Alberta member to earn Master Professional Status – took the lead on player development.
Alan Riley brought his lengthy experience as a Master Professional with the Alberta PGA to his work with Griffins golfers (Robert Antoniuk photo).
"I couldn't have picked a better person to do this with," said Campbell. "Alan was such an invaluable member of our team with the amount of knowledge and his ability to work with these elite athletes. He took on a really solid role with player development. Obviously, we shared that, but I tended to do more of the planning and organizing, and making sure we arrived where we needed to and we didn't forget anybody."
That usually went like clockwork, except for that one time at the WestJet ticket counter …
"One memory I've told many times: we were on our way to the 2011 CCAA championship and, of course, all of our planning was done ahead of time," explained Campbell. "We showed up at 7 o'clock in the morning to board a plane and I'm going through WestJet with 12 people behind me and a WestJet (agent) looks at me and says, 'OK, are you with the MacEwan golf team?'
"I said 'yeah.'
"This is on a Sunday and they were like, 'we were wondering where you guys were.'
"And I said, 'how do you mean?'
"She says, 'your flight left yesterday.' "
Campbell believes he told the Griffins' administrator who was booking flights that he wanted to leave on Sunday but had the date wrong, leading to the mix-up. With practice rounds beginning the next day in Charlottetown, P.E.I. – 4,724 km away – and a flight to that city no longer possible, the biggest golf scramble you've ever heard of was on.
Over the next 90 minutes, Campbell worked through every possible scenario and managed to get them on a flight to Moncton, N.B., which was still 164 km shy – including on the wrong side of the Northumberland Strait – away from their destination.
"I then phoned the rental company that had two of the suburbans that we needed. They were in Charlottetown and I phoned them up and asked, 'how much would it cost for you guys to drive those suburbans to the Moncton airport?' We would have been getting into the Moncton airport at 1 o'clock in the morning.
"This lady was like, 'we can do it for $150.'
"I was like '$150 each?'
"And she said, 'no, $150 total.' "
A true steal of a deal, Maritimes hospitality style.
"So, we all jump on this flight, and all of the players have never been so grateful in their whole life because they all thought they were going home. We eventually flew out on this Planes, Trains and Automobiles type road trip. We pulled into Brudenell River in P.E.I. at 3 o'clock in the morning, had our practice round the next day and got at 'er."
Alan Riley offers a swing tip to Griffins golfer Teryn Jensen during the 2019 ACAC North Regional at Red Tail Landing (Jefferson Hagen photo).
The joy of the journey stands out as an overall memory for everyone who came through the MacEwan golf program. They supported one another, were fiercely competitive and had fun.
"There was no negative stuff on the golf course," said Riley. "You'd see other teams' players walking down one fairway and coming up the other one and they'd wave at each other give each other the X (sign) and shake their heads, 'I'm playing like crap today.' There was none of that on our team. Always positive.
"The players bought into it," he continued. "Sometimes it took a little bit of time. You could see the players mature. They would get less rattled, they would follow the process better and be more mentally tough each year as things went on as they gained experience and bought into it.
"It was remarkable. I never took it for granted that we were able to go to nationals every year. And all of those championships we won, a lot of individual, both men and women.
"But the players hit the shots. All we tried to do was give them the tools to hit the shots as well as they could. And I think we must have done a pretty good job of that."
Campbell took the lead during play as the ACAC required each team to designate a head coach during tournament rounds, a role which included wearing many hats.
Jodi Campbell checks in on Jordan Hoya during the 2019 ACAC South Regional. He wore many hats during competition rounds (Brody Mark photo).
"I remember in the beginning that many coaches believed, come game day, it was all up to the players, and that the coaches didn't play that much of a role in that particular round," said Campbell. "That belief couldn't have been further from the truth.
"As a coach during competition, I was a caddie, I was a strategist, I was a positive vibe that the players needed, I was a kick in the pants if they needed it. It was an opportunity for a player to refocus if I came around and jumped up on the teebox with them and chatted.
"I was a hype man sometimes, I was a high five if they needed it, or if things were going poorly, maybe I was a hug. But over 18 holes of golf, I didn't have a bench to put a player on. So, my role as a coach was to get the best out of our players whether they had their A game that day or their B game.
"They soon realized everybody counts and every shot matters. Throwing in the towel on a poor round was not an option."
Part of it comes from his background as a rugby coach, but Campbell was very much about creating a team-first culture – unique in a sport like golf, which relies on so much individual success feeding the collective.
"We always believed that culture wasn't just part of the equation, it was the equation," he said.
"I treated our golf team the same way I treated my rugby team. It was about 'you play for each other, you bleed for each other if you have to, and you always have each other's backs.'
"Golf was so unique because as much as you were competing against one another, if they ever caught each other on the tee box or could see each other from across a fairway, they're throwing some sort of wave or thumbs up; they were just cheering each other on. And we did not see that on every team. It was something unique and special and it kind of goes back to … the culture we were really trying to promote. The players bought into and it and, man, did we ever have fun doing it."
The Griffins men's golf team won the 2016 ACAC Championship - one of 12 banners MacEwan golf teams won under co-coaches Alan Riley, left, and Jodi Campbell, right (Courtesy, Jodi Campbell).
The team competition brought out the sterling character of Griffins' golfers, who were one part sportsmanlike, one part fiercely competitive, and all parts team first. It got to the point where other teams were excited to see which Griffins golfer they got to play with during a round.
"Our main goal was to create a culture with the players that was competitive, but also one where we try to reduce as much interference as possible," said Riley. "(We followed) the old (saying): potential minus interference equals performance."
That meant creating an expectation that their best was always good enough, which started with both Campell and Riley being on the same page.
"We wanted them to know they would never get in trouble with any of the coaches if they had a bad day on the golf course," explained Riley. "So, they never had to worry about someone getting on their case for not playing well. We knew everybody was going to try their best.
"So, we wanted them to be ready for the first tee, ready to play when it was their tee time and never, ever, ever give up. That was the biggest thing."
Jodi Campbell talks with Barrett Belland during a 2016 practice round (Len Joudrey photo).
It paid dividends immediately as Campbell and Riley led the Griffins to their first ACAC banner in their first season. In 2009, Daryl Lynn Nepoose, Jeanine Sears, Lauren Lemieux and Lisamarie Morin won the ACAC women's title, quickly announcing MacEwan golf as a force to be reckoned with.
"That first one was amazing because it happened quick," said Campbell. "When I think about those four women, they had so much fun together. I think that's what made it fun. The whole concept of playing for each other and having each other's back, even though they were competing against each other is something they bought into right away."
Success for the men took a couple of years, mainly because Mount Royal was dominating the circuit right before they made the jump to Canada West in 2012.
"They were on their way out and we beat them in the very last year they were in ACAC," said Campbell, whose Griffins teams claimed banners No. 2 and 3 by sweeping both the men's and women's titles in 2011, led by Megan Vermillion's individual gold. "That was quite satisfying knowing that we beat them while they were there. There was a real passing of the torch, I think, between that Mount Royal team and us. Suddenly, we became the team with the target on our back."
Led by Adam Bruce's individual silver medal, the Griffins men's team, which also included Kevin Piper, Cody Hancock, Trevor Klassen and Dexter Hamilton, beat MRU by six strokes to claim the first of five men's banners won by the program under Campbell and Riley.
The highlights just stack fast and furious after that – too many to mention in this article (see the program record book for the full account).
Vermillion, Sydney Johnson-Parker and Rachel Whyte captured a CCAA bronze medal in 2012.
Barrett Belland won every tournament he entered in the ACAC in 2016.
Jodi Campbell, left, and Alan Riley flank Justin Berget after he won an individual silver medal at the 2019 CCAA national championship (Courtesy, Jodi Campbell).
And the program's success was capped off with its highest rung on the ladder in its final moment before being discontinued as Justin Berget captured an individual silver medal at the last tournament they attended – the 2019 CCAA Championship.
"He went and lit it up," said Campbell of Berget's 1-over (73-74-70) finish in Sainte-Victoire-De-Sorel, Que., just one shot shy of gold medallist Louis-Alexandre Jobin-Colgan of Champlain St. Lawrence. "I had an opportunity to follow him for most of that round because it got to a certain point where the team wasn't going to make the podium, but he had a chance to do it. I was able to caddie along through his final round.
"He was making shots and the pressure was on. I knew he was feeling the pressure and nervous, but watching a player just continue to execute even though they're in that stressful state, he just played fantastic. It was a really special moment for him."
Riley also counts Berget's silver as a highlight, but has others, like James Charpentier's final tournament of his MacEwan career at the UFV-hosted 2015 CCAA nationals when he finished 12th with a score of 217, tied with Berget for the lowest three-round total by a Griffin at a CCAA championship.
"I remember James Charpentier, it was his last year, and we were playing the national championships in Abbotsford, and he said before the tournament, 'Al, I understand now what you've been telling me all of these years. I'm going to play great this weekend.'
"He was so excited and all the lights were going off in his brain, so he played really well."
After an illustrious Griffins golf career, James Charpentier stayed in the industry, currently working as a territory manager for Mizuno Canada (File photo).
He also doesn't name names on this memory, but a certain Griffins player forgot their shoes for the 2010 CCAA championship in Kamloops, B.C.
"That Kamloops tournament, we got there and one of our best players comes up to me and says, 'Al, I left my golf shoes at home.'
"All he had was a pair of slip-on canvas shoes with both toes sticking out. They were just beat up, worn-out shoes. He didn't have any money to buy a pair of shoes, so he played golf for three days in those crazy canvas shoes. I think he played pretty good, too."
The legacy of the program is in all of the titles, for sure, but it's also about launching careers. At least 10 former Griffins golfers are working or have worked in the golf industry, including Cody Hancock, who has taken over from Riley as the head teaching professional at Sturgeon Valley Golf and Country Club.
Elizabeth Stewart – who holds the record for the lowest round by a Griffins women's golfer (74) – is head professional at Blackhawk Golf Club. She's also the golf coach for the University of Alberta and won 2025 Canada West coach of the year.
Elizabeth Stewart was named ACAC Female Golfer of the Year in 2015 and later received the Griffins golf Most Outstanding award from coaches Alan Riley, left, and Jodi Campbell at the Griffins Athletics banquet (File photo).
Bruce is the head pro at Northern Bear.
Charpentier is a territory manager at Mizuno Canada.
Berget is the associate pro at the Whitecourt Golf and Country Club.
Josh Gorieu is the associate pro at Lewis Estates.
Christian Solkowski is a club fitter at de Boer's Golf Shop.
Nick and Spencer Vandermay previously worked in the golf industry and recently won the PGA of Alberta's G&G Pro-Pro Best Ball competition last August.
And finally, the most unique path of all is being undertaken by Rachel Wiebe, who is Down Under, working as a senior assistant pro at Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Australia.
So many others have gone on to successful careers all across the board after graduating from MacEwan.
Megan Vermillon was named the Most Outstanding Player on the Griffins women's golf team for four-straight seasons (2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14) (Len Joudrey photo).
"We had the luxury of having some of these players for three or four years," said Riley. "So, we could see them maturing in their golf games – their mental toughness, resilience and course management. We could see them developing and their golf games developing and fully buying into the ways we believed they needed to be to play their best.
"So, it was really fun to watch them grow up and mature. I've stayed in contact with quite a few of them and I think Jodi has, too. It was really fun.
"I guess that's the biggest thing from my perspective is it was a lot of fun and I think the players had a lot of fun with it, too."
Campbell is now living near his hometown of Lloydminster, but still keeps in touch with former players, too.
"I love running into players," he said. "Those are lifelong friendships. Obviously we had a coach/mentor leadership role. But you see the players after and it was just such a genuine experience for everybody, and they had so much fun doing it, while at the same time having a great deal of success."
A total of 31 individual and team titles – 19 of them under Campbell and Riley – were won by Griffins golfers in the program's history.
Countless other memories will stay with them forever.
And the legacy of the program will live on as Campbell and Riley become the first MacEwan golf program members named to the Griffins' Wall of Distinction.
