Chris Foster joined the McKendree University athletics staff in March 2018 as the men's head basketball coach for the Bearcats. He is the 25th head coach in McKendree program history.
Over his first two seasons at the helm of the Bearcats' program, Foster has constructed the McKendree roster to make the squad one of the most dynamic in the league. The 2019-20 season was a breakthrough year on many fronts for McKendree. The Bearcats finished the year with an overall record of 15-13, marking the team's first finish over the .500 mark since the 2011-12 campaign. McKendree also went 10-10 in GLVC play, giving the program its highest win total in league competition since becoming conference members in 2012-13.
For the first time since joining the ranks of NCAA Division II, McKendree knocked off three ranked foes in 2019-20. All three victories came at home, beginning with a 68-64 triumph over No. 9 University of Southern Indiana on Dec. 3, 2019. In its second game of the new year on Jan. 4, 2020, the Bearcats registered an 80-70 win over No. 25-ranked Drury University. Then just a week later on Jan. 11, McKendree made it three wins over ranked foes thanks to a 78-74 victory against No. 16 University of Indianapolis.
In addition to the team success, Foster saw three players earn individual accolades at the conference level. Senior Logan Kohrmann earned first-team All-GLVC honors following the season, marking the first time that a Bearcat grabbed that award. Bryson Bultman burst onto the scene with a stellar rookie campaign to collect GLVC Freshman of the Year mention. Bultman was joined by Jakobie Robinson on the GLVC's All-Freshman squad for 2019-20.
In Foster's first year at McKendree in 2018-19, he guided the Bearcats to a 9-18 overall record and 5-13 GLVC mark. His first home game provided one of the most dramatic finishes in recent program history on Nov. 20, 2018. With McKendree trailing 78-77 inside the final five seconds, the Bearcats needed to go the length of the court to collect the win. A long baseline heave from Giovanni Offard connected with Nolan Gerling at midcourt. Gerling then found Nate Michael just inside the halfcourt stripe. Michael launched a 40-footer that went in to give McKendree an 80-78 victory. That proved to be Foster's first victory with the Bearcats.
Prior to his arrival at McKendree, Foster spent four years as the head coach of Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo. In those four seasons, Foster guided the Bulldogs to a 20-win season each time, earning 83 victories during that span. Of those 83 wins, 48 came against GLVC opponents.
In each of his four seasons in Kirksville, Foster led Truman State to the GLVC Tournament. His 2017-18 squad earned a share of the GLVC West Division title with a 13-5 mark. The Bulldogs grabbed the No. 2 seed at the 2018 GLVC Tournament held in Edwardsville, Ill., and reached the championship contest for the first time since becoming league members in 2013. Foster also coached three first-team All-GLVC players in 2017-18, marking just the second time in conference history that one institution had three first-team All-Conference honorees in men’s basketball.
All four of Foster’s teams at Truman State featured a high-octane offensive style that averaged 82 points per game or higher each time. The 2017-18 Bulldogs’ squad was second in the GLVC in scoring offense at 83.8 points per game, a year removed from a team that set a program record by averaging nearly 87 points per contest. The 2016-17 squad also finished first among all NCAA Division II programs in three-point field goal percentage, knocking down 42.9 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Foster also led Truman State to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of the last two years. It was the first time in 60 years of NCAA membership that the Bulldogs made consecutive trips to the national tournament.
Before being named the head coach at Truman State, Foster spent one season as the Bulldogs’ associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. In that role he also served as academic coordinator as well as planned and implemented pre- and post-season workouts.
A 2005 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Foster gained valuable coaching experience at his alma mater. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant basketball coach at UNI for one season before transitioning into the role of director of basketball operations in 2006-07. In October 2007, Foster was named as an assistant basketball coach for the Panthers. After spending one year as an assistant at UNI, Foster moved into the high school coaching ranks before returning as video coordinator for the Panthers in December 2011. He remained in that role until moving to Truman State.
Foster was a four-year member of the Northern Iowa men’s basketball team, where he is a member of the Panthers’ 1,000-point club. He was named to the All-Freshman Team in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2001-02, and also played for the UNI teams that made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and 2005. Foster ranks seventh on the Panthers’ career list for assists with 370.
Foster and his wife Kylie have three children, a son, Jase and two daughters, Avery and Riley.
