Welcome to the EdjVarsity Coach Mailbag! Every few weeks the EdjVarsity staff will answer your questions about football analytics, how to best leverage analytics when game planning (use data in your game plan), and we’ll even run play scenarios using our EdjVarsity app to let you know what the optimal call would be!
Here are this week’s Coach Mailbag questions:
I love the idea of analytics, but it seems complicated to use and incorporate into our game day operations. How are teams using analytics in-game?
EdjVarsity is designed to be easy to use and it works on both tablets and laptops – all you need is a Wi-Fi or hotspot connection.
And, there are lots of ways you can incorporate the EdjVarsity app into your game day operations. One example is using it to improve play calling decisions. On every 1st down, our 4th Down Forecast™ gives you a proactive look ahead at all of your possible 4th down decisions by yards to go and provides recommendations (including the relative strength of each possible decision). So, for instance, if on 1st down you understand that 4th and 2 is go-for-it situation for your team, instead of facing a 1st and 10 you are really facing a 1st and 8 and you have 3 downs to play call accordingly.
Another example of how you can incorporate the app into your game day operations is using it to gain a better understanding of play execution. EdjVarsity gives coaches the ability to evaluate play results in the context of win probability, which is important because we all know that all 3-yard gains are not equal. So, for instance, if a player makes a big play or gets called for a personal foul, you can evaluate those results in terms of how much win probability was gained or lost. These become more teachable moments because the context of win probability enables coaches and players to better understand how play execution is directly tied to game results and why every play matters!
How is EdjVarsity customized for my team?
EdjVarsity is designed to complement traditional scouting methods (i.e. film study, tendency analysis, and gut instinct). EdjVarsity enables coaches to synthesize all of these factors in a “Coaching Customizations” screen, where you set how your team matches up against your opponent. Once set, match up customizations are utilized throughout the app – and they can easily be adjusted based on things like injuries. The bottom line is that we give you and your staff the ability to control the settings for how you match up with your opponent and then our app uses that information to give you insights about play calling decisions and play execution.
That’s all for this week! Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for this mailbag. Be sure to get your questions in for the next coach mailbag. Submit your questions here.
Also, sign up for a free trial to learn how to utilize the EdjVarsity throughout the spring to get ready for the 2021 season. Sign up for a free trial here.