By Brad Rudner

NOTE: Originally appeared in the fall issue of M Magazine.

For years, the best way for coaches to see if a player was performing up to par was by the good, old-fashioned "eye test."

It will always have a place in sports, even as technology continues to evolve. But today, more and more sports from the professional and college ranks are delving into technology and the data that comes out of it. The statistics generated in a boxscore aren't the only numbers to pay attention to anymore.

Currently, seven varsity programs within the University of Michigan Athletic Department use Catapult, a small, wearable GPS-like device that tracks data metrics during practice and competition. Wear it and it'll tell you how fast you're going, how high you're jumping, how quickly you're changing direction and so much more.

Then there are other programs, like baseball, that go a step further, using different technological systems to help give them an edge on the field. More on that later.

Darryl Conway, Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief Health & Welfare Officer, says the end result is getting to a point where data-driven decisions are being made to help teams win on the field.

"Between half and two-thirds of our teams are using some level of science or analytics," he explained. "We're taking data and using it as a way to get better. We're still very early in the data-gathering process, but it's already translating into some positive results."

There's just one problem: too much data, not enough bodies to explain what it means. Conway found help right up State Street.

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With a project of this scale, the Athletic Department couldn't tackle it alone. Academically speaking, there's no official course of study at the University of Michigan that focuses specifically on sports analytics, but that doesn't mean there wasn't interest.

Today, students and faculty from the Schools of Information, Kinesiology, Engineering and Public Health are involved in the project, taking their own dives into the data and offering their own conclusions. The Michigan Institute for Data Science (known as MIDAS), the Exercise and Sports Science Initiative (ESSI) and the Health System are also contributing.

Members of the Michigan field hockey team using Catapult

"We have the student-athletes and are collecting a lot of data, but we don't necessarily have the expertise to analyze it," Conway said. "There are people on this campus that look at big data all day long. Something that would take us an hour to do is a freshman-level project in the School of Information."

Thomas A. Finholt, the Dean of the School of Information, saw the growing partnership as an incredible opportunity for his students.

"Can we help the teams win? Can we help the student-athletes prevent injury and achieve greater performance? Those are questions we want to help answer," Finholt said. "We feel that Michigan can bring a lot more horsepower to the problem with our students, faculty and status as an athletics program. It's the dawn of a very exciting era."

At the forefront is the Michigan Sports Analytics Society (MSAS), a student-run organization comprised of undergraduates and graduate students from all across campus. Now in its second semester, MSAS began with 50-70 students with two subgroups: one on baseball and one on fantasy sports projections.

In January 2017, MSAS hosted a hackathon, spending 12 hours poring over de-individualized data collected from Catapult devices that were worn by field hockey and women's soccer players throughout the fall season.

The group looked at the "load" for each student-athlete, an algorithm from Catapult derived from several of the different metrics in the gyroscope. Coming out of that, 20-30 students created a one-credit independent study project based off the research. They interpreted the data, prepared an analysis and offered the conclusions to Conway's group of athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches in April.

MSAS hosted another hackathon in early October as part of its ever-expanding footprint.

Rohit Mogalayapalli, a junior and current president of MSAS, believes the direct partnership with athletics is what got the ball rolling.

"Students relish new opportunities," Mogalayapalli said. "To be a part of something, to be the firsts to implement this, that's very attractive. Plus, working with athletics, developing those relationships and learning what this field is about, that's an experience within itself.

"The one thing about data, you need more and more of it. Once we get enough data to produce statistically significant evidence, more coaches will say, 'Hey, this is important to use and we're going to use it to make decisions.' It takes time. But once it's adjusted, it'll be like it's always been there. We're excited to lead that charge here."

Personally, Mogalayapalli is looking at women's soccer, comparing last year's data to this year's for the student-athletes who returned. With two years of numbers, combined with the season summaries, Mogalayapalli can deduce how student-athletes progressed and see how the data differs year over year.

"The trainers and coaches look at data every day. We aren't doing it at that frequency yet," he said.

Alex Wong, the athletic trainer for the men's basketball team, says each of the 15 student-athletes wear a Catapult device every day there's any court-related activity, from individual workouts to formal practices.

At the end of the day, reports are generated and shared with the coaches, athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches. 

"Coach (John) Beilein has been extremely responsive to it," he said. "Internally, we've started to identify some player load numbers for certain individuals and where we want those to be during the week and during the season, the day before a game and the day after a game.

"The School of Information has been a tremendous asset with their ability to reverse-engineer a problem. With the raw data they get, I can pose a question, Coach Beilein can pose a question, and they're able to work backwards from that number to try and figure out ways to be proactive in projecting a certain player load, defining a practice or altering a rehab program."

As for Finholt, he's hoping the university creates a major for sports analytics soon, citing Syracuse University as a place that's already done it. Even a minor, he predicts, would get upwards of 150 students.

"With the quality of students and our reputation in athletics, I think it's a no-brainer," Finholt said. "We're a big research institution. Athletics is deeply interested. Why not do it?"

***

With the campus partnership growing by the day, the question now becomes: where does the program go from here? Conway and Wong are looking at recovery.

"We want to help student-athletes maximize the hours they're away from athletics," Wong said. "How many hours of sleep do they need? What foods should they be eating? Based on your player load, how does your body feel? We're teaching them how to be more proactive in their recovery."

Sleep, in particular, is an important piece, especially when traveling for road competitions. Conway is using the U-M Sleep Disorders Laboratory to figure out the optimal sleep patterns for student-athletes.

For example, if water polo is traveling to California (as it often does), when is the best time to depart? Arrive? If there's a match at 7 p.m. Pacific, what time is best for bed check, wake-up? What about meals? If it's a short trip, they are at the mercy of the body's circadian rhythm, aka internal clock, and can only get adjusted so quickly.

The men's basketball team dealt with this during its trip to the Maui Invitational in November. After a nine hours of flights and a five-hour time change, they played three games in three days from Monday through Wednesday before taking the long trip home and facing UC-Riverside that following Sunday.

And then there's a sport psychology component. Conway will have certain student-athletes meet with Scott Goldman, the Director of Athletic Counseling, to assess their AIQ (Athletic Intelligence Quotient), a test that determines how individuals learn, process information and react.

All these things give Michigan an edge in the various arenas of competition.

"We're changing the way we train," Conway said, "and our student-athletes will reap the benefits."

Tomorrow: Check MGoBlue.com Tuesday (Feb. 20) to learn how Michigan baseball is using advanced analytics and technology to gain an edge on the competition.