Keelen Barlow is in his fifth year working for Illinois State Athletics and his second year as  Assistant Director of Social Media Strategy and Content. He is the direct social media  contact for Illinois State women's basketball and soccer, overseeing all creative content  for the two programs.

In just over three seasons leading the women’s basketball program's social strategy, Barlow helped grow the team’s Instagram community by more than 100% to 8.4K followers, the top mark in the Missouri Valley Conference and one that ranks top 30 among mid-major WBB programs. The team is coming off a year of 12% growth in Instagram following, generating more than 4 million impressions during the 2025-26 campaign.

He previously spent three years on the Athletic Communications staff at Illinois State, including in full-time capacity as Assistant Director of Athletic Communications and the women's basketball and soccer media relations contact during the 2024-25 athletic year. 

Barlow, who joined Illinois State Athletics in July of 2022 as a Graduate Assistant for Athletic Communications, also worked with Illinois State football, men's basketball and swimming and diving during his tenure on the communications staff.  Barlow, originally from Indianapolis, graduated from Butler University in 2022 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a minor in strategic communication. He earned his master's degree at Illinois State in Kinesiology and Recreation.