CORVALLIS, Ore. (BVM) – Growing up in Los Angeles, there are many things to be distracted by as a young child. You could play sports, watch sports or want to work in sports as a social media expert. In fact, you could do all three. Nick Bristol, director of the Oregon State football social media team, did just that growing up in So-Cal.

“Seeing those parades every year for the Lakers from 2000 to 2002 was really where my love for sports took off,” Bristol, who also mentions that his real love for sports fell in line with football, and that he was attached to one player in particular, said. “Obviously there wasn’t an NFL team in Los Angeles at the time, so the closest team was the previous San Diego Chargers, who have since moved to LA but weren’t at the time. Ever since I started watching LaDainian Tomlinson tear it up, I realized my obsession for the sport of football.”

Bristol didn’t grow up playing football, however, he did play basketball, soccer and swam as well. He knew that once he fell in love watching the game of football, however, that he wanted to be on the inside, working for a team or university’s program.

“My dad works in the hospitality industry, and he has always loved what he’s done,” Bristol said. “Whenever I look at him and how much he enjoys working, I didn’t want any different. I loved sports, watching them growing up, and I knew that if I could work in that space, it wouldn’t seem like a job.”

So far, Bristol has made that dream. He chose to go to college at the University of San Diego for a reason, and it was because of the opportunities in the surrounding area. 

“There were potential internships that I was interested in with the Chargers and the Padres, through their communications department at USD,” Bristol, who also says that those two opportunities didn’t come through, but an opening at the athletic department for his university opened, said.

“Towards the end of my undergrad at USD, I wasn’t really sure whether I wanted to work with the marketing side or the digital side of the sports industry.” 

Bristol moved on to the University California Irvine for a communications-coordinator position which was on the photoshop and design side. He then knew that he wanted to work within the digital side of the sports world. 

“When I moved up to Loyola Marymount University, it was a smaller school but I got the opportunity to run a lot more of the social and digital side, with emails, socials and graphics, while also promoting and advancing our education within the social media department for our students,” Bristol, who believes the COVID-19 pandemic sort of aided his decision to go to the digital side because everything got moved to the digital side anyway, said.

“Knowing that COVID was going to be cutting some programs apart, and new jobs and openings would become available, and knowing that I wanted to get to a power 5 conference program, especially working football.” Bristol, who had opportunities in the southern part of the country while also receiving interest from Oregon State’s Football social media team, said. “Talking with my wife at the time, we wanted to stay closer to our families on the west coast, so we both thought this would be a great move for us.”

Bristol is almost halfway through his first year on the job, and he can’t wait to keep it going, and so do the Beavers.

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