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Zeleny believes he can eventually
help in recruiting and development |
The Univ. of Nebraska yesterday named Carleton, Neb., native
TUCKER ZELENY Dir of Sports Analytics & Data Analysis, which may soon become a "trend in college athletics," according to Brian Rosenthal of the Lincoln JOURNAL STAR. It is a "newly created department," one that Nebraska Senior Associate AD/Performance & Strategic Research
STEVE WATERFIELD "doesn’t believe exists" at any other D-I school. Waterfield said that what Zeleny and his staff (yet to be determined) will do exactly "is still being developed." Rosenthal notes "collecting, analyzing and summarizing data could involve anything from delving into individual player statistics to studying Nebraska’s success rate on certain third-down plays to helping athletic performance to, yes, even recruiting." Waterfield said, "We’re still trying to figure out which direction this is going to take. But we see a lot of different areas, and one of them is looking at it from a macro-athletic sense of what trends for each of our sports is indicative of overall success, or current success for those teams that are deemed successful from a won-loss standpoint" (
Lincoln JOURNAL STAR, 7/9). Zeleny said, "It’s sort of the right place at the right time. You turn on ESPN, and you see everything is numbers-heavy these days. Everybody is starting to support the analytics and the data that’s becoming available in sports." In Omaha, Jon Nyatawa notes Zeleny "envisions a future where he can provide relevant data to help coaches more effectively identify recruits, improve the development process and perfect in-game strategies" (
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 7/9).
