Tom Schott administers the Purdue Athletics strategic communications and media relations efforts while serving as department spokesperson. He is the department raconteur, historian, managing editor of PurdueSports.com, copy editor for all collateral materials and liaison to the university and alumni association communications staffs, as well as the Big Ten Network. Schott and his staff collaborate with creative services, development, marketing and fan experience, and video production to brandish the image of the Boilermakers via traditional and innovative communications methods.
Schott is co-editor of “Forge,” the Purdue Athletics highly acclaimed quarterly publication, and co-host of the wide-ranging Purdue Athletics Podcast. He is a regular contributor to the video news series "Boiler Bytes" talking about the Boilermakers.
Schott started at Purdue as a graduate intern July 1, 1990, and subsequently earned promotions to assistant sports information director (1991), associate sports information director (1995), sports information director (2000), interim assistant athletics director (2006), assistant athletics director (2007), associate athletics director (2011) and senior associate athletics director (2014).
In 2016, Schott was honored with the College Sports Information Directors of America 25-Year Award. He was recipient of the Helping Hand Award from the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 2008 and the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding SID Award from the All-American Football Foundation in 2007. He was recognized as an honorary member of the Purdue Reamer Club in 2006 for being an important figure at Purdue. Schott has won numerous CoSIDA publication and writing awards, including three Best in the Nation citations. Most recently, his story “Joe Tiller: 1942-2017” was judged Coach/Administrator Profile & Historical Feature of the Year for District V (Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Manitoba and Ontario) in 2018.
Schott served as the primary communications/sports information contact for football from 1998 to 2009 and continues to work closely with that program. He has worked 270 of 272 games over the last 22 seasons (Sept. 12, 1998-Nov. 30, 2019) and accompanied the Boilermakers to 13 bowl games. Schott serves as publisher/editor of the official gameday program and as occasional host of the coach's radio show. He coordinated the visual and interactive content for the Blake Lobby in the Kozuch Football Performance Complex. Schott promoted two consensus All-Americans - Travis Dorsch in 2001 and Taylor Stubblefield in 2004 - as well as Heisman Trophy finalist and Maxwell Award winner Drew Brees and John Mackey Award winner Tim Stratton in 2000, while working with the winningest coach in school history, Joe Tiller. Schott was featured on ESPN for his Heisman Trophy campaign for Kyle Orton in 2004. Spearheaded by Schott, Purdue Athletics was on the cutting edge of student-athlete promotion via DVDs, printed materials and websites. Schott coined the term Den of Defensive Ends in 2004 in recognition of the Boilermakers' tradition at that position.
Earlier at Purdue, Schott worked directly with cross country, track & field and wrestling (1990-91); volleyball (1991-97); and women's basketball (1991-99). He was honored as one of the nation's top five women's basketball sports information directors by the "Women's Basketball Journal" in 1999, the same year the Boilermakers won the NCAA championship. Schott also accompanied the Boilermakers to the 1994 and 2001 Women's Final Fours. He was a member of the Women's Final Four media relations staff in 1993, 1995 and 1997 and served as media coordinator for the 1992 and 1997 Mideast regionals. Schott provided radio color commentary for women's basketball and volleyball, as well, and has done radio play-by-play for softball and Internet streaming play-by-play for baseball. He has traveled with men's basketball to the NCAA Tournament on 10 occasions, including the Sweet 16 three times and the 2019 Elite Eight. He pulled together subject matter themes and displays for the Purdue Basketball Ring of Honor in Mackey Arena. Schott helped create the Golden Pete Awards show, which celebrates the achievements of Boilermaker student-athletes each spring.
Schott is author of “Purdue University Football Vault,” a coffee-table-style scrapbook history of the Boilermakers published in 2008, and co-author of “Tales from Boilermaker Country,” published in 2003, and “Tales from the Purdue Boilermakers Locker Room,” published in 2015. He co-hosts “Schott Down Memory Lane,” a weekly radio show on The Hammer (101.7 FM) in Lafayette, featuring interviews with the biggest names in Purdue Athletics history.
Schott served as press conference moderator for every Big Ten Football Championship Game from 2011 to 2018, regularly fills the same role for the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament and was chair of the conference communications/sports information directors during the 2000-01 and 2012-13 school years. He handled press relations for the East team at the 2005 East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco and was a member of the host committee media relations staff for Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.
Schott is a member of NACDA, CoSIDA and the Football Writers Association of America. He has served as a member of the CoSIDA Academic All-America Divisional Leadership Group and the Publications Awards and Writing Contest committees.
Schott is on the board of directors of the Joe Tiller/Northwest Indiana Chapter of the National Football Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes amateur football.
In 2019, Schott was elected to Town and Gown, a select group of administrators, department heads and/or faculty from Purdue and members of the Greater Lafayette community who are recognized for their civic contributions and community leadership.
Schott graduated cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He received the Woodward Award for outstanding writing and the Diem Award as the outstanding journalism senior. He was the student assistant sports information director at Ohio Wesleyan for four years, served as sports editor of "The Transcript" and wrote for the "Delaware (Ohio) Gazette." Schott interned with the St. Louis Cardinals media and public relations department during the summers of 1988 and 1989 and was a sportswriter for the "Suburban Newspapers of St. Louis" during the summer of 1987. As a high school student, Schott did extensive sports publicity work for Saint Louis Country Day School and served as sports editor of "The News." He got his start in sports journalism at age 12 when he co-founded his own magazine called "The Redbird Chirps," interviewing nearly 100 Major League Baseball players, managers, coaches and broadcasters from 1981 to 1986.
A native of St. Louis and an ardent baseball historiographer, Schott has been a contributing writer for the Cardinals media guide, magazine, Hall of Fame induction program and website (Cardinals.com), and served on the media relations staff for the 2009 MLB All-Star Game and the 2013 World Series in his hometown. He co-authored "The Giants Encyclopedia," a history of the New York and San Francisco Giants franchise published in 1999, and "The Giants Encyclopedia: Second Edition," published in 2003. Schott also has written for the Giants website (SFGiants.com), Atlanta Braves media guide and website (Braves.com), and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website (BaseballHall.org).
Tom is married to former Purdue women's basketball player Jane Calhoun (1988-92). The couple has two sons, August (a redshirt freshman long snapper on the Purdue football team) and Sam. Tom is a member of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation Board of Trustees and the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation Board of Directors. He coached youth baseball for 13 years. Tom has traveled to all 50 United States, worked college football games at 37 venues and attended MLB games at 31 stadiums. His non-sports interests include 1970s and ‘80s music, Batman, Seinfeld, Star Wars, and U.S. presidential history. He is an Eagle Scout.
Schott is co-editor of “Forge,” the Purdue Athletics highly acclaimed quarterly publication, and co-host of the wide-ranging Purdue Athletics Podcast. He is a regular contributor to the video news series "Boiler Bytes" talking about the Boilermakers.
Schott started at Purdue as a graduate intern July 1, 1990, and subsequently earned promotions to assistant sports information director (1991), associate sports information director (1995), sports information director (2000), interim assistant athletics director (2006), assistant athletics director (2007), associate athletics director (2011) and senior associate athletics director (2014).
In 2016, Schott was honored with the College Sports Information Directors of America 25-Year Award. He was recipient of the Helping Hand Award from the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 2008 and the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding SID Award from the All-American Football Foundation in 2007. He was recognized as an honorary member of the Purdue Reamer Club in 2006 for being an important figure at Purdue. Schott has won numerous CoSIDA publication and writing awards, including three Best in the Nation citations. Most recently, his story “Joe Tiller: 1942-2017” was judged Coach/Administrator Profile & Historical Feature of the Year for District V (Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Manitoba and Ontario) in 2018.
Schott served as the primary communications/sports information contact for football from 1998 to 2009 and continues to work closely with that program. He has worked 270 of 272 games over the last 22 seasons (Sept. 12, 1998-Nov. 30, 2019) and accompanied the Boilermakers to 13 bowl games. Schott serves as publisher/editor of the official gameday program and as occasional host of the coach's radio show. He coordinated the visual and interactive content for the Blake Lobby in the Kozuch Football Performance Complex. Schott promoted two consensus All-Americans - Travis Dorsch in 2001 and Taylor Stubblefield in 2004 - as well as Heisman Trophy finalist and Maxwell Award winner Drew Brees and John Mackey Award winner Tim Stratton in 2000, while working with the winningest coach in school history, Joe Tiller. Schott was featured on ESPN for his Heisman Trophy campaign for Kyle Orton in 2004. Spearheaded by Schott, Purdue Athletics was on the cutting edge of student-athlete promotion via DVDs, printed materials and websites. Schott coined the term Den of Defensive Ends in 2004 in recognition of the Boilermakers' tradition at that position.
Earlier at Purdue, Schott worked directly with cross country, track & field and wrestling (1990-91); volleyball (1991-97); and women's basketball (1991-99). He was honored as one of the nation's top five women's basketball sports information directors by the "Women's Basketball Journal" in 1999, the same year the Boilermakers won the NCAA championship. Schott also accompanied the Boilermakers to the 1994 and 2001 Women's Final Fours. He was a member of the Women's Final Four media relations staff in 1993, 1995 and 1997 and served as media coordinator for the 1992 and 1997 Mideast regionals. Schott provided radio color commentary for women's basketball and volleyball, as well, and has done radio play-by-play for softball and Internet streaming play-by-play for baseball. He has traveled with men's basketball to the NCAA Tournament on 10 occasions, including the Sweet 16 three times and the 2019 Elite Eight. He pulled together subject matter themes and displays for the Purdue Basketball Ring of Honor in Mackey Arena. Schott helped create the Golden Pete Awards show, which celebrates the achievements of Boilermaker student-athletes each spring.
Schott is author of “Purdue University Football Vault,” a coffee-table-style scrapbook history of the Boilermakers published in 2008, and co-author of “Tales from Boilermaker Country,” published in 2003, and “Tales from the Purdue Boilermakers Locker Room,” published in 2015. He co-hosts “Schott Down Memory Lane,” a weekly radio show on The Hammer (101.7 FM) in Lafayette, featuring interviews with the biggest names in Purdue Athletics history.
Schott served as press conference moderator for every Big Ten Football Championship Game from 2011 to 2018, regularly fills the same role for the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament and was chair of the conference communications/sports information directors during the 2000-01 and 2012-13 school years. He handled press relations for the East team at the 2005 East-West Shrine Game in San Francisco and was a member of the host committee media relations staff for Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.
Schott is a member of NACDA, CoSIDA and the Football Writers Association of America. He has served as a member of the CoSIDA Academic All-America Divisional Leadership Group and the Publications Awards and Writing Contest committees.
Schott is on the board of directors of the Joe Tiller/Northwest Indiana Chapter of the National Football Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes amateur football.
In 2019, Schott was elected to Town and Gown, a select group of administrators, department heads and/or faculty from Purdue and members of the Greater Lafayette community who are recognized for their civic contributions and community leadership.
Schott graduated cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He received the Woodward Award for outstanding writing and the Diem Award as the outstanding journalism senior. He was the student assistant sports information director at Ohio Wesleyan for four years, served as sports editor of "The Transcript" and wrote for the "Delaware (Ohio) Gazette." Schott interned with the St. Louis Cardinals media and public relations department during the summers of 1988 and 1989 and was a sportswriter for the "Suburban Newspapers of St. Louis" during the summer of 1987. As a high school student, Schott did extensive sports publicity work for Saint Louis Country Day School and served as sports editor of "The News." He got his start in sports journalism at age 12 when he co-founded his own magazine called "The Redbird Chirps," interviewing nearly 100 Major League Baseball players, managers, coaches and broadcasters from 1981 to 1986.
A native of St. Louis and an ardent baseball historiographer, Schott has been a contributing writer for the Cardinals media guide, magazine, Hall of Fame induction program and website (Cardinals.com), and served on the media relations staff for the 2009 MLB All-Star Game and the 2013 World Series in his hometown. He co-authored "The Giants Encyclopedia," a history of the New York and San Francisco Giants franchise published in 1999, and "The Giants Encyclopedia: Second Edition," published in 2003. Schott also has written for the Giants website (SFGiants.com), Atlanta Braves media guide and website (Braves.com), and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website (BaseballHall.org).
Tom is married to former Purdue women's basketball player Jane Calhoun (1988-92). The couple has two sons, August (a redshirt freshman long snapper on the Purdue football team) and Sam. Tom is a member of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation Board of Trustees and the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation Board of Directors. He coached youth baseball for 13 years. Tom has traveled to all 50 United States, worked college football games at 37 venues and attended MLB games at 31 stadiums. His non-sports interests include 1970s and ‘80s music, Batman, Seinfeld, Star Wars, and U.S. presidential history. He is an Eagle Scout.
| ALL-TIME PURDUE SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTORS | |
| Years | Name |
| 1925-28 | Robert McMahon |
| 1928-64 | Robert Woodworth |
| 1964-70 | Karl Klages |
| 1970-75 | Ted Haracz |
| 1975-77 | Gregg Knipping |
| 1977-82 | Tom Shupe |
| 1982-86 | Jim Vruggink* |
| 1986-98 | Mark Adams |
| 2000-06 | Tom Schott** |
* director of athletic public relations (1986-2000), media and public relations director (2000-01).
** interim assistant athletics director (2006-07), assistant athletics director (2007-11), associate athletics director (2011-14), senior associate athletics director (2014-present).
Jay Cooperider served as director of communications from 2000 to 2002, assistant athletics director from 2002 to 2004 and associate athletics director from 2004 to 2006.