Statistical Analysis Coordinators

Statistical Analysis Coordinators....yeah that's a new term that I just ran across but after looking at it and then laughing a little what teams have them titled as are Defensive and Offensive Quality Control coaches. This job is starting to get some shine as future coaches have used this position to spring board their careers and some of them are now famous. 

The actual origin of Stat Analysis Coordinators is traced back to Tom Landry who along with Gil Brandt of the Dallas Cowboys were the first organization to use analysis in the fashion they did for game analysis and the draft.  Mike Holmgren was the first to actually assign a person to a Quality Control coaching position and in the link above we saw that it was John Gruden, who went on to fame as a Super Bowl winning coach and now is the game analyst of Monday Night Football on ESPN.

The position is really akin to an apprenticeship for coaching at the NFL level as most of these coaches are hired after performing as graduate assistants at college and have been recognized as talented young "football guys". It's an intern position and we all know what happens in that position, you do all the work and get none of the credit. It's not as bad as it sounds though because if you're a football guy you know you have a chance to break in if you bust your tail.  Busting tail is exactly what they do with studying game film to uncover tendencies, scout players, and help coaches develop game plans for Sundays.  An example of this was on display last year in the Green Bay vs. Seattle NFC Championship game when Seattle went for the fake field goal.  The coach (I'll bet 1000 dollars it was a Quality Control coach) discovered that the end rusher on field goal tries always cut inside to try to block the field goal. Seattle waited for an opportunity to present itself and sure enough, it came so Quality control coaches can make a difference.

I do like the name of Statistical Analysis Coordinator as it gives it more depth although I wonder if a coach would want to remain in this position full time especially considering the hours put in breaking down film.