Sport Key
BVB = Beach Volleyball
FBS = FBS Football
FCS = FCS Football
FEN = Fencing
MBA = Baseball
MBB = Men’s Basketball
MCC = Men’s Cross Country
MGO = Men’s Golf
MGY = Men’s Gymnastics
MIH = Men’s Ice Hockey
MLA = Men’s Lacrosse
MSO = Men’s Soccer
MSW = Men’s Swim & Dive
MTE = Men’s Tennis
MTI = Men’s Indoor Track & Field
MTO = Men’s Outdoor Track & Field
MVB = Men’s Volleyball
MWP = Men’s Water Polo
MWR = Wrestling
RIF = Rifle
SKI = Skiing
WBB = Women’s Basketball
WBO = Women’s Bowling
WCC = Women’s Cross Country
WCR = Women’s Rowing
WFH = Field Hockey
WGO = Women’s Golf
WGY = Women’s Gymnastics
WIH = Women’s Ice Hockey
WLA = Women’s Lacrosse
WSB = Softball
WSO = Women’s Soccer
WSW = Women’s Swim & Dive
WTE = Women’s Tennis
WTI = Women’s Indoor Track & Field
WTO = Women’s Outdoor Track & Field
WVB = Women’s Volleyball
WWP = Women’s Water Polo
Case Study and Walkthrough
What is this chart and why is it called a surveillance tool?
This is simply a data visualization of the past eleven years worth of Learfield Director’s Cup points data. If you are not familiar with the Learfield Director’s Cup, click here. This data is a high level and broad measurement of college athletic success, as determined by how many Director’s Cup points a team has earned. I call this a “surveillance” tool because it allows me to keep a close eye on how good (or bad) college sports teams are performing, even if their success (or lack thereof) goes under the radar to the rest of the industry.
How do I use this thing?
Simple. Select any combination of year, conference, institution, and sport in the filters and let the Viz return your results.
Let’s take a real-life AD job opening as an example. The job at UC Davis is currently was open. I am from the west coast but don’t really know much about UC Davis or the Big West Conference.
First, I would select “Big West” from the conference filter list. This will return all of the top performing sport programs in that conference. Scrolling down the list I see two UC Davis results. Women’s Golf has earned 285.5 Director’s Cup points within the time period selected and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field has earned 144.0. Not bad. UC Davis has two of the top 25 programs in the conference.
Looking closer at the rest of this list I see that UC Irvine and Hawaii have more teams towards the top. I can take this to mean that those two athletic departments are better than UC Davis lately. At least according to Directors Cup results.
If I am still interested in the UC Davis job, I would next drill down to get a better feel for the UC Davis teams. To do this, uncheck the “All” institution checkbox and scroll down and select only UC Davis.
I can see that there is a pretty significant drop off in team performance results after women’s outdoor track & field. There hasn’t been a lot of recent success in the other sports. Would that be a good fit for you and your skill set?
I think this could be a perfect fit for a leader who has a track record of elevating basketball programs. There is a lot of room for improvement in men’s and women’s basketball.
A third bonus step would be to add in UC Davis’s rival to the Viz to see how you would stack up against them. I have no idea who UC Davis’ rival is. Let’s say it’s Cal Poly. Simply check the “Cal Poly” institution checkbox to add in their results.
Cal Poly has six of the top nine programs between the two.
Summary
Within just a few minutes we were able to learn that UC Davis has a couple good programs but the others look to be unexceptional relative to the rest of the conference and also that their performance trails that of their rival, Cal Poly.
This job looks like a tough one. Is it a good fit for you? Do you think you are a better or worse fit now that you know a little bit more about their programs and the conference?