Campbell Camels’ dugout cigarettes cause concern

The Campbell Camels and Camel cigarette might have made for a solid promotional partnership in 1950, but in 2022, seeing cigarettes around a college sporting event is looked at just a little bit differently.

Campbell baseball coach Justin Haire was being interviewed on SEC Network and the ESPN live stream during his team’s NCAA Tournament Regional game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday when eagle-eyed viewers noticed a pack of Marlboro Red cigarettes in the dugout behind him.

While it’s not particularly wild to imagine a baseball manager smoking in between innings, it would however be a violation of the University of Tennessee’s and NCAA’s policies if he or someone else did light up. As the game was being played at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on the University of Tennessee campus, and smoking is prohibited on campus, that would be a big no-no.

In fact, if someone were spotted smoking in the dugout during a game, NCAA rules would require that they be ejected according to their website.

According to a Campbell athletics official, however, the “empty box” was actually just there as a prop carried over from the Big South Tournament.

“The empty box of cigarettes was discovered during the conference tournament and became a good luck prop for the team during the run through the conference tournament,” Campbell’s assistant director of athletics communication Davis Dupree told Knox News. “No actual cigarettes were present in the dugout or consumed at any time by any member of the Campbell baseball team or staff.”

Tennessee beat Campbell, 12-7, and advanced to the Knoxville Regional final on Sunday while Campbell plays Georgia Tech in an elimination game to see who plays Tennessee in the final. You can expect that there will be some people keeping a close eye on the Campbell dugout to see if any Camels are lighting up some Camels.

[USA Today, Knox News]