{"id":1256,"date":"2019-03-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/looking-at-the-university-of-nebraskas-first-steps-into-the-world-of-sports-analytics\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:36","slug":"university-of-nebraska-analytics","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/university-of-nebraska-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking at the University of Nebraska\u2019s First Steps into the World of Sports Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Mar 20, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Looking at the University of Nebraska\u2019s First Steps into the World of Sports Analytics<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Data & Innovation<\/a> <\/div>\n
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Nebraska is one of the first schools to host an analytics department and its Director, Tucker Zeleny, is on a mission to connect with each of its coaches across all sports.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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\u201cSports analytics departments at the collegiate level are not very common.\u201d<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

Tucker Zeleny, Director of Sports Analytics and Data Analysis at the University of Nebraska, is talking to the Leaders Performance Institute about his efforts to ensure the school is making the most of the data it collects across all of its major sports programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes us a little unique, as a lot of the coaches here haven\u2019t enjoyed the luxury of having an analytics team as a resource at any of their previous stops,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would have been looking at data on their own, whether that\u2019s breaking down their tendencies or their opponents\u2019. The big thing for us as a data and analytics department is to make sure we\u2019re not giving them something they already have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeleny explains that it can take up to a year for him and his team to \u201cfind their groove\u201d with a sport or an incoming coach. The idea is to help the coach take the next step in data collection and usage.<\/p>\n

A project can often kick-on from that point: \u201cThis is the data they\u2019re looking at already and this is where we can take things a little further, whether that\u2019s collecting data they didn\u2019t have before or whether it\u2019s the fact that we have the time to dive deeper into some of those numbers that they haven\u2019t yet had a chance to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, Zeleny talks of the importance of building relationships with the coaches across Nebraska\u2019s multitude of sports and the need to put actionable information in their hands. It is a topic he also touched upon in the first Leaders Performance Institute Special Report.<\/a><\/p>\n

How do you help to ensure good, intentional conversations between coaches and athletes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ:<\/strong> It is up to the sport how they rely things to the athlete, what they do relate, what they don\u2019t. A lot of what we provide could be beneficial to the athlete themselves but most of what we do is geared towards information for the coaches and then they\u2019re able to share that as they see fit.<\/p>\n

What is your thought process behind giving coaches what they need?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ: <\/strong>That varies a lot from sport to sport. Some of our coaches are data guys and gals and they don\u2019t mind having a few print-outs. A lot of them do want things that are a bit more visual and to the point, hitting the highlights. We try to make things easy to understand and allow for coaches to not only see key takeaways right away but also interact on their own. We\u2019re also pretty careful not to assume that we\u2019re going to catch everything. We want the coach to explore and do some poking around on their own because we\u2019re not going to see everything the same way; we don\u2019t ever want to prevent them the opportunity of doing some digging on their own.<\/p>\n

In what other ways do you feel you\u2019re making better use of data than say two or three years ago?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ:<\/strong> I think we\u2019re always becoming more aware of what\u2019s out there and all the new technology available, whether that\u2019s wearables or whatever it may be. There\u2019s always new data coming out so we\u2019re always trying to stay up and what\u2019s being done out there in terms of data collection and also in the different types of analyses. Again, it\u2019s not like this is a real common thing at the collegiate level yet so a lot of what we do gets borrowed from the professional level, so we\u2019re always reading up and doing research and trying to learn more about some interesting things that are being done at the professional level of sport and we sort of try and translate that to how can we use that at our level; I guess an approximation of the same metrics. It is also going back to getting a feel with a coaching staff and every season we get a better idea of where we can be most beneficial. That combination of learning new techniques and new ways to use data and also becoming more comfortable with what the particular team is going to find most useful.<\/p>\n

Are coaches trying to balance intuition and numbers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ:<\/strong> I\u2019d say more often than not the data does back up their intuition, which is still a good thing because it gives them a concrete example when referring back to some of the gut feelings but occasionally there is a counter-intuitive result that we come across and those are some wild moments for the coaches that really solidify the importance of data and analysis and maybe not relying solely on intuition. However, we realise that the coaches are the coaches for a reason, they treat what we bring to the table as just another tool in their toolbox that they\u2019re able to use however they see fit.<\/p>\n

Processes evolve over time of course but how are you able to complement historical datasets with the current?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ:<\/strong> Every sports different and we typically do have a number of different datasets together; some of it may come from just roster information that we have available on our team website and we might have data that our coaching staffs are reporting from the video that they watch and maybe they\u2019re logging it live during the game and then depending on the sport we subscribe to a few different data providers that can give us more intricate details maybe on opponents in particular that we\u2019re not able to watch as much film on. There\u2019s very much a challenge but also a benefit in blending some of those datasets together and marrying those different areas so that we can maximise the benefit any time that we tap into a new data source.<\/p>\n

Some sports teams are concerned that data is proliferating faster than they can recruit the expertise to decode it \u2013 how do you work to prevent a skills gap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ:<\/strong> There\u2019s probably being more data collected now than anyone knows what do to with, so I think that\u2019s part of the fun and part of the challenge; determining how we best use this data. It\u2019s going to get to the point where it has in professional sport for the most part where most teams have an analytics department, most of them are getting the same data so the true value is going to come from the people who are going to be able to use it best and find the diamonds in the rough.<\/p>\n

How do you ensure sustainability of methods, so if a coach departed a whole system would not just be thrown on the scrap heap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ:<\/strong> Our athletic performance lab is more involved with that sort of thing. For us it\u2019s more just the data we\u2019re collecting, the data sources that we\u2019re using, any services we subscribe to, and then the reports come from that and that\u2019s really what we\u2019re most concerned about when it comes to translating from one coaching staff to another. There definitely is a challenge there; obviously you go through a few seasons with the coaching staff and get a feel for what they want and then you\u2019ve built the trust there and got into a routine with them and if a new staff comes in then you\u2019re sort of starting from scratch with them and the nice thing is that you\u2019re able to point to what you\u2019ve done previously and hopefully have some solid results and good pieces of insight that you are able to uncover; and when you\u2019re able to point to those results and the value you are able to provide there, that\u2019s a pretty good way to show the new staff what you\u2019re capable of and you\u2019re able to get their buy-in on the right track.<\/p>\n

What do you anticipate being the biggest development in data in college sport cover the next 12 months?<\/strong><\/p>\n

TZ<\/strong>: I think the biggest thing is going to be some of the new data that\u2019s going to be becoming available, trickling down from professional sports and so a lot of what we do requires video tagging or play tagging to some degree, then you look at the NBA and the NFL and MLB and soccer and really all these sports at professional level where they have a lot of player tracking data available now; it\u2019s all automated and I think that\u2019s going to make its way to our level and it has in some areas already but it\u2019s going to be interesting to see that continue to trickle down. I think it\u2019s also going to be interesting to see how widespread analytics in general becomes at college level; a lot of the research out there in the full-time departments are again focused on the professional level so it\u2019s going to be pretty interesting seeing other athletic departments get on the band wagon a little bit more. Maybe they already are and they\u2019re just keeping it a little bit closer to the vest than we have. When you look at sports in general and the teams having success at the highest level a lot of them are kind of the innovators and looking ahead and trying to stay on the cutting edge of this data and I think that\u2019s only going to increase as we go along here.<\/p>\n

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Looking for more performance insight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why not download the latest Leaders Performance Special Report? The focus for this edition is coach education and development across elite sport and features organisations as diverse as the United States Tennis Association, Southampton FC of the English Premier League and Fremantle of the Australian Football League.<\/p>\n