Football Analysts

[forkbeard3777]

The recent addition of Kingsbury at USC and Diaco at LSU made me think of this topic.

Does Notre Dame/Marcus Freeman utilize football analysts like other teams? From what little I know about the topic, I believe Saban and Alabama were really at the forefront of utilizing them.

I’m honestly not too sure of their worth and value, but I guess they can’t hurt. They basically break down opponents’ film, scheme, and analyze players and rosters, right? They don’t participate in practice, coach players, and recruit, right?

(And no, Bryan Driskell, you cannot apply.)

 

[dublinirish]

The recent addition of Kingsbury at USC and Diaco at LSU made me think of this topic.

Does Notre Dame/Marcus Freeman utilize football analysts like other teams? From what little I know about the topic, I believe Saban and Alabama were really at the forefront of utilizing them.

I’m honestly not too sure of their worth and value, but I guess they can’t hurt. They basically break down opponents’ film, scheme, and analyze players and rosters, right? They don’t participate in practice, coach players, and recruit, right?

(And no, Bryan Driskell, you cannot apply.)

They don’t have room in the Gug for more analysts


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[Fbolt]

How exactly do those teams use analysts that would be different than any other team? ND has several.

Football

The Official Athletic Site of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The most comprehensive coverage of The Fighting Irish Football roster, schedule game summaries, scores, highlights on the web. Powered by WMT Digital.

und.com

 

[stlnd01]

We have analysts. We don’t have analysts who’ve been NFL and major college head coaches or won Broyles Awards.

I’m sure the guys Saban, in particular, have brought in have provided some value but it also seems like an way for a fired coach to rehab his career without having to go too far down the totem pole. We needn’t play that game unless it makes sense for us. (That said given the youth of our staff, having some old head X’s and O’s guy around might not be a bad idea).

 

[NumbersGuy0520]

We have analysts. We don’t have analysts who’ve been NFL and major college head coaches or won Broyles Awards.

I’m sure the guys Saban, in particular, have brought in have provided some value but it also seems like an way for a fired coach to rehab his career without having to go too far down the totem pole. We needn’t play that game unless it makes sense for us. (That said given the youth of our staff, having some old head X’s and O’s guy around might not be a bad idea).

I think this is spot on. In general, the analyst position seems to be what’s above.

I do think there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit (that teams don’t grab) in terms of treating these roles as true science-heavy “analyst” positions like in other fields (I’m talking stats heavy, predictive modeling, ML, etc), though I’m incredibly biased as a math phd with a career as a senior data scientist. But imagine a backtested model than can accurately predict the opponent’s next play based on formation, score, down, and distance.
Predictive analytics from a scouting and game-centric pov is growing in NFL and CFB (Andy Reid was one of the first to really buy-in for the NFL, and it’s done wonders for him), but still feels like it’s incredibly young and growing far slower than it should (I wonder how many of these types we actually have on NDs staff).

 

[zelezo vlk]

If they really wanted to save money they could just come here for our genius takes.


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[forkbeard3777]

We have analysts. We don’t have analysts who’ve been NFL and major college head coaches or won Broyles Awards.

I’m sure the guys Saban, in particular, have brought in have provided some value but it also seems like an way for a fired coach to rehab his career without having to go too far down the totem pole. We needn’t play that game unless it makes sense for us. (That said given the youth of our staff, having some old head X’s and O’s guy around might not be a bad idea).

I think this is spot on. Saban will grab big name guys that were former coaches (Charlie Strong for example), but as I mentioned in my original post, I really don't know what they do other than reviewing film and preparing scouting reports.

 

[NDohio]

We have analysts. We don’t have analysts who’ve been NFL and major college head coaches or won Broyles Awards.

I’m sure the guys Saban, in particular, have brought in have provided some value but it also seems like an way for a fired coach to rehab his career without having to go too far down the totem pole. We needn’t play that game unless it makes sense for us. (That said given the youth of our staff, having some old head X’s and O’s guy around might not be a bad idea).

Isn't there usually also a contract benefit for the these guys as well? If they were fired from another coaching job their buyout is effected by them taking another coaching position but becoming an analysts doesn't change anything. It is a way for them to stay in football without taking a financial hit.

 

[forkbeard3777]

Isn't there usually also a contract benefit for the these guys as well? If they were fired from another coaching job their buyout is effected by them taking another coaching position but becoming an analysts doesn't change anything. It is a way for them to stay in football without taking a financial hit.

Possibly. And that certainly makes sense.

Honestly, I just don't know too much about the analyst role and position. One would expect that it would be for GAs and guys just starting their coaching career; however, the former HCs and coordinators on staff as analysts is somewhat perplexing. That said, as stInd01 said, it could be a "coaching rehab" type thing. I don't think it would hurt, but I don't think their worth is that important to the coaching staff. I'd expect major college football staffs' will watch tape and scout themselves and not solely rely on an analyst's report.

 

[stlnd01]

Isn't there usually also a contract benefit for the these guys as well? If they were fired from another coaching job their buyout is effected by them taking another coaching position but becoming an analysts doesn't change anything. It is a way for them to stay in football without taking a financial hit.

There sure may be. I’m not certain.
But either way if you are, say, a fired former head coach or coordinator at a major program who aspires to get back to the big-time, it may simply be easier to do that by spending a few years in an off-field job with Nick Saban than by dropping back down to take a bigger title at some G5 program with no resources. That path has worked for a number of his former analysts.

 

[Huntr]

Hiring a new Scouting Director

 

[Irish#1]

NFL and college experience.