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This story is part of our August 2022 CoSIDA 360 package, to view more stories,
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Spotlight on creative communicator Chris Forman, associate strategic communications director and director of social media at Purdue
by Will Roleson – CoSIDA Associate Executive Director @wroleson
Chris Forman was named an associate strategic communications director at Purdue University in 2013 and also serves as the athletic department’s director of social media. Prior to Purdue, he worked in athletics communications at the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Massachusetts and St. Cloud State University. A native of Manning, Iowa, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Central College (Iowa) in 1998.
How did you get into the athletics communications profession?
It was almost by accident. My original plan was to go to Central College in Iowa for a couple of years, then transfer somewhere to get a meteorology degree (I love the weather… still do). When I realized that wasn’t in the cards for me because I couldn’t quite understand calculus, I switched to environmental sciences. I then realized that is not where I wanted to go and switched to an exercise science focus. It was then I got associated with Central’s legendary, longtime SID Larry Happel and I interned under him for six months, and took a real interest in communications and sports information.
After graduation, I took a job as a sports editor at the Atlantic (Iowa) News-Telegraph for two years. Knowing that I didn’t want to be in the newspaper business very long, a former women’s basketball graduate assistant and high school classmate (Pam Gohl – current Director of Athletics at the University of Sioux Falls), told me that I should apply for a graduate assistantship at St. Cloud State. I was fortunate enough to get hired there and spent two years learning under Anne Abicht and Tom Nelson, who were both outstanding in their roles there, and just kind of went from there. I then took an internship for two years at UMass, then to the Naval Academy for nine years and now I will be entering my 10th season at Purdue.
What is it like starting at Central College and now working at Purdue?
There are a lot of differences between working at Central College and Purdue, but at the end of the day, it remains about communicating, promoting and telling your stories. Larry Happel still tells a story about how he took a year internship at Tennessee and while walking out onto the football field in front of 105,000 fans is an incredible rush, that one of the greatest moments he was a part of was when the Central Softball team won a national title on a late home run in 2003. At the end of the day, it’s about providing your student-athletes the best experience you can provide when they are at your school. The job stays the same no matter what level you are at. You might have more coverage and more eyeballs on you at Purdue than Central, but the core values of what you are trying to do is the same whenever you are.
You do a great job in using social media to connect fans with Purdue athletics, most specifically men's basketball; how do you approach your social strategy?
Sports Information has changed so much in the 20 years that I have been involved in the profession, that now social media is at the forefront of everything we do. A lot of social media comes by feel and instinct. A few years ago, I would get really itchy and anxious to post as much as possible. With the addition of a very talented creative staff and excellent marketing staff here at Purdue, we are able to take deep breaths and really focus on what we want to do. Typically, once practice starts, we create a weekly calendar that is distributed to our creative and marketing staffs that really helps get things on our radar and provides solid deadlines. I have been able to let go a little bit from social and our creative staff has freedom over anything they want to do. I tell them, let us be a guinea pig if you ever want to try anything.
Chris Forman with Purdue basketball player Carsen Edwards
You also seem to use analytics and other specialty stats in your social media and notes, is that in-house research or do you use a service?
A lot of my notes, stats and analytics that I dig up comes from the Sports-Reference family. My brother, Sean Forman, actually is the one that created the Sports-Reference sites and I tell him at least three times a year that he really needs to expand the college basketball page to aid in my research. I love doing research and I have a goal every year of adding a couple pages in the Purdue basketball media guide. You never know when a new stat or record can turn into a graphic or video for social media.
You have had the opportunity to promote several All-Americans and NBA draft picks in the late Caleb Swanigan and, more recently, Jaden Ivey. How have you maximized your reach?
It’s all about finding the best ways to promote them. Both Caleb and Jaden had such incredible stories, that it was easy to promote them. With Caleb, we set aside an hour a week for interviews and we were able to pitch his story to ESPN, Good Morning America, CBS Nightly News and even the Steve Harvey Show. We created an 18-minute documentary about Caleb that just detailed his life story and work ethic. We created an emoji with him and launched a website. With Jaden, the story of his relationship with his mother Niele, was the angle that he wanted and that we approached. I can’t count the number of interviews he had that talked about his youth and growing up in a basketball family. With both of them, and Carsen Edwards as well, it was about being present for them, talking to them about the directions they wanted to go and then promoting them at every chance we could.
What is your favorite part of the job?
The cliched answer is being around the university, team and the student-athletes. We have such a great culture around the entire department here at Purdue that it makes it easy to come to work. We all have difficult days, but at the end of the day, seeing student-athletes succeed and graduate and being able to tell their stories is what we are all in it for. I also love traveling. My job with men’s basketball and men’s golf have taken me to some incredible places that I would never visit if it weren’t for athletics. I have been to 49 states and 10 different countries in my life and (missing Alaska) and I would venture to say that 45 of them and nine countries have been because of working in college athletics.
What are some of your favorite memories working with Purdue athletics?
Obviously, the NCAA Tournament runs are probably the most-memorable moments in both sports. The Sweet 16 win over Tennessee and then the Elite 8 game against Virginia in 2019 were two of the best games in March Madness history and to be a part of those games will be something I won’t forget for a long time. Sadly, I think about that Virginia game a lot and I have told myself that I am not going to a Final Four until I work at one with a team. It has always been a career goal of mine. Otherwise, just being able to travel with my family to the NCAA Tournaments is pretty rewarding and memorable as well. They are huge Purdue fans and to see them have the same emotions as me means a lot.
What else should we know about you?
My wife, Elle, and kids Ashlyn (13) and Tyler (10) mean everything to me and they get me through tough times when I have them. With them, it’s about planning because my daughter is an avid dancer and my son plays soccer, so it’s about balancing time and priorities. From October to April, it’s pretty difficult, so it’s important to take a break when you can. I like to play golf, I just wish I could do more of it, and I like to be outside whenever I can.
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