This is part five of a six-part storytelling series, filled with real-world examples for telling the stories of people in your athletic department.

Storytelling Series: Athletes | Coaches | Alumni | Donors | Fans

August 11, 2026

Every athletic department has people whose names don’t shine in the limelight.

They’re the athletic trainers who are the first ones in every morning. Equipment managers who have every jersey ready before warmups. Academic advisors celebrating graduations that fans never see. Compliance administrators, facilities crews, strength coaches, operations staff, communications professionals, video coordinators, business office staff, and dozens of others whose work makes game day possible.

Most fans know the teams. Few know the people who keep those teams moving.

Staff members shape the student-athlete experience every day. They build relationships that last for years, solve problems no one else notices, and create the culture that everyone else ultimately experiences.

When departments consistently tell those stories, they humanize the people behind the logo, strengthen appreciation across campus, and remind everyone that successful athletic programs are built by far more than coaches and athletes.

So, here are five story formats for your staff that you can put on the calendar right now.

1. Meet the Team

Every department has talented people whose work is largely invisible. A recurring “Meet the Team” series introduces one staff member at a time, helping fans, alumni, and campus partners understand who they are and what they do. This can also function as a “day in the life” format.

The format is simple: Interview one staff member about their role, career path, daily responsibilities and what they enjoy most about working in athletics. Keep the conversation approachable and personal. This format works because it turns job titles into people. Fans may not know what an assistant athletic trainer or business manager actually does, but after reading one profile, they’ll have a greater appreciation for the work that goes into each role.

Three questions that consistently produce good answers:

1. What does a typical day actually look like for you?
2. What’s something people would be surprised to learn about your role?
3. What’s your favorite part of helping student-athletes succeed?

Best timing: Year-round. Publish monthly or bi-weekly to introduce every department over time.

Example: “Caring for Champions: Meet Morningside’s sports medicine & athletic training team”

2. Why We Do This

Every staff member has a reason for why they chose this profession. Some were former student-athletes. Others were inspired by a coach, teacher or mentor. They all believe in helping young people and those motivations deserve to be documented.

The format is simple: Ask staff members to reflect on why they chose college athletics and what keeps them here. The answers can become individual features or part of a recurring department-wide series. This format creates emotional connection because it focuses less on tasks and more on purpose.

Three questions that consistently produce good answers:

1. Why have you chosen to spend your career in college athletics?
2. What keeps you coming back every season?
3. When do you feel like you’ve made the biggest difference?

Best timing: Year-round. Especially meaningful during National Athletic Training Month, Administrative Professionals Day, employee recognition events or departmental anniversaries.

Example: Wayne State: “Feature Story: From Student-Athlete to Employee”

3. Careers in Sports

Staff careers are often winding, fascinating journeys filled with unexpected opportunities, career changes and mentors who opened doors along the way. For younger professionals or student-athletes eyeing a career in college athletics, learning the “how” illustrates what’s possible.

The format is simple: Build a feature around how someone arrived in college athletics. Explore their education, first job, biggest career lesson and why they’ve chosen this profession. These stories resonate because they’re relatable. They remind students considering careers in sports that there isn’t just one path into the industry.

Three questions that consistently produce good answers:

1. Did you always want to work in athletics?
2. Which mentor had the biggest influence on your career?
3. What advice would you give someone hoping to work in college athletics?

Best timing: Year-round. Particularly valuable during hiring announcements or internship seasons.

Example: “Q&A with Whitman Athletics Trainers John Eckel and Anna Doyel”

4. Faculty & Academic Support

Student-athletes spend just as much time in classrooms as they do in locker rooms, yet the people guiding their academic success rarely appear in athletics storytelling. Academic advisors, faculty athletic representatives, professors, learning specialists and tutoring coordinators shape the student-athlete experience every bit as much as coaches do.

Their stories reinforce one of the biggest promises every athletic department makes: that athletics and academics work together, not in competition.

The format is simple: Interview one professor, advisor or academic support staff member about their role, what it’s like working with student-athletes and the moments that remind them why the work matters. These stories are especially valuable because they build bridges across campus. They introduce athletics audiences to the academic side of the institution while reminding faculty that they, too, are part of the student-athlete journey.

Three questions that consistently produce good answers:

1. What surprises people most about working with student-athletes?
2. What qualities do student-athletes bring into the classroom that stand out?
3. Is there a moment with a student-athlete you’ll never forget?

Best timing: Throughout the academic year, especially around graduation, academic awards, NCAA Faculty Appreciation Week, or major academic milestones.

Example: Baruch: “Q&A with Marc Edelman – NCAA Faculty Representative (FAR)”

5. Athletic Director Profiles

Every department has a vision. It’s a vision that comes straight from the top, led and driven every day by the athletic director.

Fans hear from athletic directors when there’s a coaching change, a facility announcement or a championship celebration, but they rarely learn the story behind the person making those decisions. A first-person profile helps humanize the department’s leader long before the next press conference.

The format is simple: Conduct an in-depth interview, then write the story in first person, allowing the athletic director to reflect on their career, leadership philosophy and the experiences that shaped them. Unlike a traditional biography, this format should feel reflective rather than promotional. Focus less on accomplishments and more on defining moments, lessons learned and the values that guide difficult decisions. These stories create trust because they give readers something titles and résumés never can: perspective.

Three questions that consistently produce good answers:

1. Looking back, is there a moment that most changed the way you lead?
2. What do you hope people feel when they walk into your athletic department?
3. What part of your leadership philosophy has remained unchanged throughout your career?

Best timing: Around a significant anniversary, retirement, major department milestone, or simply during the offseason when there’s room for longer-form storytelling.

Example: Summit League: Debbie Yow’s “Carving My Own Path”

Making It Repeatable

Staff storytelling often stalls for the same reason every other long-form feature does: time.

Everyone in an athletic department is busy. Finding an hour for an interview, drafting a feature, sending it back for review, and publishing the final version can easily slip behind game coverage and daily responsibilities.

That’s the problem FanWord’s Online Interviews and Feature Stories features were built to change:

• Create an Online Interview and set up questions
• Send staff members a link
• They respond on their own time from their phone via audio, video, or text
• Every answer lands in one place — no email chains, no chasing, no transcribing
• From there, one-click import into Feature Stories turns raw responses into a working draft
• Customize the voice and length of each story
• Use our built-in review process to speed up collaboration
• Your team spends its time editing and publishing instead of collecting and formatting

If you want to see how programs are running series like these at scale, we’d love to show you.

Next up in the series: Storytelling ideas for about your passionate fans that build stronger connections with the people who cheer your teams on every season.

See what FanWord can do for your communications team: 
➡️ Request a demo using the contact form below
➡️ Reach out to our CEO directly to talk through your team’s workflow