Technology for Coaches in the 21st Century

Introduction

With everything in the world, technology has had its influence on. There is no other industry that it has had a bigger influence on than in the world of sports, and how coaches as well as athletes view the game that they coach and participate in.

Over the last eight years technology has advanced to the point where all of the teams in the NFL and the majority of the schools and colleges in the United States have some sort of computer software program that allows coaches, as well as players to pull up a play, practice or game on the computer and watch it. Gone are the prehistoric days where coaches such as retired UW-Whitewater football coach, Forest Perkins would have to take the 16 millimeter film to Madison to get developed and then wait, for it and then take it back to Whitewater, where he and the other coaches would then splice the tapes into the film clips of what they want.

This paper will not only discuss the changes that have occurred in technology that have impacted the game of football, but also how football coaches can use technology to their advantage in order to prepare their players for the season.

History of Technology in the Game of Football

Prior to the 1986 football season the majority of colleges were still using 16 millimeter film to record their games, which required the coaches to take the film into get developed after the games. For retired Whitewater football coaches Forest Perkins and Bob Berezowitz, that meant taking the forty five minute drive to Madison to get film developed.

After the film was developed, they would drive another forty five minutes back to Whitewater where they and the other coaches could begin the never ending process of splicing the film together of offensive, defensive and special teams units, so coaches could watch each one separately. Bob Berezowitz who became the head football coach in 1985 and just retired ending a 21 year head coaching career at UW Whitewater stated “The splicing of the film was the longest process as we had to be careful and match each and every play up with a wide and tight angle” Berezowitz continued on by saying “With this change came the benefit of not having to make a 45 minute drive back and forth to Madison to get the film developed. As well as the fact that, we no longer had, to splice the film together”.

Changes in Technology in the 21st Century

In the fall of 2002 I enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and was hired as a student assistant football coach by then football coach Bob Berezowitz. Coach Berezowitz thought it would be a good idea to have me do all of the video editing with the brand new video editing software which they had recently purchased. I was up to the challenge; however there was no one on the staff willing to teach me. The first year was a learning experience not only in terms of editing but also with what the software could do and some of the terminology I needed to know. At the time terms such as non-linear, compression ratios, TCP/IP, raid, ram and rom were like a foreign language to me.

Even though the first year was difficult, I can now practically do the editing in my sleep. After becoming good friends with Mike Motl, who is the director of video services at Iowa State University, I have learned that over 98 percent of the division 1 football schools across the country now have some type of non linear or digital system where the video library resides on a computer. According to Motl, all he has to do is take the hard drive which he and his three assistants tape the practices on and put them into the computer and download it and it will be done in 15 minutes. After downloading he sends it to all the coaches and they have the film within 45 minutes of practice being over.

Motl also stated that there are six questions that you must ask yourself before purchasing a video system. (Motl, Mike April 2007 Interview Director of Video Services Iowa State University Advances in technology for the game of football)

1. “How will the system be used?

2. Will you be digitizing specific plays onto your computer as you watch the tape? Typically this is a starting point for each coach to learn how to use their computer.

3. Will you be digitizing entire games? This involves more responsibilities. Some one to transfer the game to a hard drive, then individually mark each lay as well as add data to those plays to perform sorts and stats.

4. What will you achieve by using this system?

5. What is the potential for growth?

6. What changes must be made from what we have now to accommodate

this system? (i.e. projection