{"id":20599,"date":"2023-10-06T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=20599"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:08","slug":"why-data-digestion-could-become-a-new-divider-between-winners-and-losers","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-data-digestion-could-become-a-new-divider-between-winners-and-losers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Data Digestion Could Become a New Divider Between Winners and Losers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 6 Oct 2023 <\/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

Why Data Digestion Could Become a New Divider Between Winners and Losers<\/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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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-data-digestion-could-become-a-new-divider-between-winners-and-losers\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n\n
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Samford University is winning championships and is being assisted in its efforts by the athletics department’s renewed focus on data.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Main Image: Samford<\/h6>\n

A Data & Innovation article brought to you by<\/p>\n

\"sport
\nBy Ethan Joyce<\/h6>\n
\n
In 2021, Zach Mathers got a new job. He arrived at a university with a great idea already in the works. His main responsibility? Turn that plan into growth and results.<\/h6>\n

Now he\u2019s two years into his role at Samford University as Assistant Athletic Director, Sports Performance. Mathers oversees Project SAMson, a universitywide effort to infuse a data-focused approach into the entire athletics department.<\/p>\n

In its short life so far, the project has helped to produce the greatest sports season the university has ever seen: a total of 11 championships, counting regular-season and conference tournament crowns. That included the school\u2019s first outright Southern Conference championship in football, an 11-win campaign that set a school record.<\/p>\n

In the battle for competitive advantage throughout college athletics, biometrics and sports science have often been treated as an effort to keep up with the Joneses (or in this case, the Sabans and Smarts). A lot of big programs have data. But schools like Samford, which kicked off its football season last week with most of the nation\u2019s programs, show how data digestion could become a new divider between winners and losers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are starting to use it in ways that really help them to structure and manage what they\u2019re doing with their athlete loads every day,\u201d said Mathers, a day before Samford\u2019s game with Division II Shorter University. \u201cI would say five years ago, 90% of people had it as a recruiting tool. It was the shiny thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a progression that Matt Bairos has observed as well. Bairos is the Chief Product Officer at Catapult. The sports performance analytics company, notable for its wearable vest that features GPS tracking, works with every Division I school in the country.<\/p>\n

Catapult introduced two new products for football teams ahead of this season: Catapult Scout and Catapult Hub. The former allows for the quick generation of scouting and recruiting packages, as well as transfer portal monitoring. The latter improves video creation and sharing abilities to incorporate more teaching and data infusion.<\/p>\n

Through Catapult\u2019s partnerships with the likes of Formula One, Bairos points out, rich data sets have become descriptive, prescriptive and predictive. College football may never be that sophisticated analytically, he said, but he sees the room available still to grow for the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot more variables as it relates to sports that involve humans running around,\u201d Bairos said. \u201cBut the more pieces of data that we put together, it\u2019s almost like we\u2019re putting that map together of what\u2019s going to happen next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samford University has taken that notion and proliferated it. The private university, with a total enrollment of just under 5,700, houses the Center for Sports Analytics. The center has partnered with professional leagues and teams, as well as brands like Nike and Coca-Cola, as an integration into student curriculum that features three focuses: business, statistical analysis and sports science.<\/p>\n

According to the center\u2019s Executive Director, Darin White, the idea for Project SAMson originated from former Samford football player and donor Gary Cooney. Between the programs on campus, plus the school\u2019s existing partnerships with Andrews Sports Medicine (the team doctors for Samford) and the American Sports Medicine Institute, the pieces were in place. A $1 million grant to the school supported the tracking of all Samford athletes. \u201cIt\u2019s rare to find a team that has no data being collected,\u201d White said. \u201cBut I\u2019d also say the vast majority of teams are only utilizing that data in summary fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Project SAMson enhances the strength training and injury prevention efforts. Phase 1 consisted of a workout equipment overhaul. In total, Mathers estimated, it was roughly $250,000 in total enhancements. Samford uses EliteForm, a motion-camera system, on all of its weight room racks. Those systems track the movement of the bar, measuring how fast the player moves it through a lift. Players can enter login information on a touchscreen and record video for review with strength coaches.<\/p>\n

Mathers said they also utilize VALD Performance equipment, mainly the company\u2019s NordBord for hamstring strengthening\/testing, ForceDecks for strength and movement testing, and timing gates for sprinting. Catapult is used by the Bulldogs, too. Mathers and his staff can use all these tools as part of their effort to measure player load. The staff can forecast how future adjustments to practices and activities could even affect the energy an athlete has for output.<\/p>\n

Soon Project SAMson will take another big step: Samford will start using Smartabase, a platform that houses all performance data from multiple sources in one place. Samford\u2019s sports performance unit has five full-time staffers and two graduate assistants, and also draws upon an intern group of about 35 to 40 students.<\/p>\n

Such a drastic, long-term change can be a hard sell in a results-now business, Mathers said. Project SAMson established itself in a time when health monitoring was desperately needed: Samford, along with many other FCS schools, played a spring and fall season in 2021 due to COVID\u2019s postponement of 2020. The team played 18 games in that calendar year, producing data that couldn\u2019t reflect a year with normal preparation and recovery times.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Mathers said, he works with a head football coach in Chris Hatcher who trusted the vision for the project. That trickled throughout the program. \u201cI think the SoCon championship is the result of everybody doing their job really well,\u201d Mathers said. \u201cI think we were able to give objective data to them. It helps the coaches do their jobs better, and it helped the athletes do their jobs better.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was brought to you by SBJ Tech<\/strong>, a Leaders Group<\/strong> company. As a Leaders Performance Institute<\/strong> member, you are able to enjoy exclusive access to SBJ Tech<\/strong>\u00a0content in the field of athletic performance.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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