John Forman joined the Radford Volleyball program as an assistant coach in July 2022.
Forman brings an impressive resume with him to the New River Valley, gaining knowledge and experience at all levels of collegiate volleyball in both the United States and Europe.
In his time at Medaille, he was hired as the university's first full-time head volleyball coach and took on the task of building a consistent contender. His hard work led to the men's team's first conference tournament appearance since 2017 with multiple all-conference selections.
The women's team earned the 2021 USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award for just the third time in program history and first time since 2004, placing 17 student-athletes on Academic All-Conference lists over two years.
Forman got his coaching career started in 1998 where he was named an assistant coach at Dean College in Franklin, MA. He moved to the University of Rhode Island where he was an assistant for a year spanning from 2000-2001. He would then add Brown University to his resume, serving as an assistant coach at the Ivy League institution from 2001-2006. He recruited six All-Ivy League players for the Bears.
The veteran coach took a brief break from the coaching world until 2012 when he made the jump oversees as head volleyball coach for both the men's and women's teams at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. Forman coached both teams to a combined 82-48 record with each qualifying for the championship tournament all three seasons with Forman at the helm. The women's side were semifinalists in 2013-14 and the men reached the top-eight each year.
Forman made his next European stop in Sweden as the head coach for Svedala Volleybollklubb, a team in the Eliteserie, the top league in Sweden. Svedala would finish the regular season in third place and make it all the way to the semifinals. With the team having former ACC and PAC-12 players on its roster, three of the players Forman signed were named to the league's Team of the Year.
The last stop on his coaching path prior to Medaille would be at Midwestern State University in Texas. Forman began his tenure as an assistant but was named Acting Head Coach in Spring 2018. Upon arrival, Forman helped improve the program drastically. In 2017, the team finished with a 15-16 record with seven conference wins compared to their 6-26 record in 2015 without a conference win.
On top of coaching, Forman is also an author, developer, conference presenter and an educator. He writes for coachingvb.com, a volleyball blog that has received over one-hundred thousand views a year. He has also taken part in interviews for Volleyball Coaching Wizards, which has also published three books. Lastly, he taught two classes at Midwestern State; a volleyball activity class and a personal fitness class.
Forman attended the University of Rhode Island for his undergrad where he received his Bachelors in Business Administration. He then received his Masters from University of Maryland, College Park in Business Administration. Finally, he earned a Ph.D. in Behavioral Finance from the University of Exeter.
