5 Annoying Tasks Football Coaches Don't Have to Deal With

For football coaches, the need for video analysis software like Hudl comes with mandatory tasks that must be prioritized. Breaking down hours upon hours of opponent scout video to run manual tendency reports on said opponent is part of the package. Entering data for your own games so you can self-scout to fix mistakes is paramount.

All these things and more have became part and parcel to the workflow of a coach. Everything you do on a day-to-day basis revolves around getting your team ready to execute under the Friday night lights. But with Hudl Assist, we take away some of the mundane aspects of your routine so you can focus your efforts elsewhere.

Here are the five biggest tasks you no longer need to worry about, thanks to the help of our team of professional analysts.

 Spending hours entering simple ODK data.

Coaches no longer have to spend hours entering data. With Hudl Assist, our team of analysts will handle all of the mind-numbing busywork you’d normally have to stay up late to do.

“It saves hours,” Len Cusumano, head coach at Pascack Valley (Hillsdale, N.J.) said. “It saves time for our other coaches that we used to commit to inputting the data. Now they can further look at film and watch film themselves instead of doing that monotonous install of the information.”

“Before, the first thing I would do is ODK it and down and distance,” Ryan Grates, assistant coach at Cape Fear High School (Fayetteville, N.C.) said. “That’s just time-consuming. When it’s done for you, I can now go in and look at certain things.”

 Entering offensive formation data on every play.

We kicked it up a notch this year by adding offensive formation to the breakdowns you’ll receive with Hudl Assist. The offensive formation column is the key to preparation–it unlocks the potential for every report in Hudl.

When you submit your games to our analysts, they’ll draw the formations and return them to you, so you can name them with your own terminology. One time, that’s it. Those names will save for future breakdowns, which allows our system to get smarter each week.

It’s an invaluable tool for defensive coaches when it’s used on opponent scout footage. “In the East regional championship, Hudl Assist was huge with putting together a game plan for our opponent,” Grates said. “Our defense almost knew what they were running before they ran it because of all the tendencies we got from it.”

This will allow you to reinvest that time to fill in other breakdown columns and create more in-depth reports for your team.

 Entering defensive front and blitz data on every play.

Coaches are always trying to find new ways to place their defensive players to confuse offenses, specifically the offensive line. They aim to make their defenses difficult to read.

Before the season, our analysts talked to offensive coaches around the country about the defensive front column. Most coaches thought it was more valuable to know how the defense aligned as opposed to the specific front name. Assist aims to provide consistent data to help you create a game plan by breaking down defensive front into four categories: odd, even, split and stack.

The combination of the defensive front and the rush count from the blitz column will give you a good idea of what an opponent does every snap. Those reports are accessible as soon as the game is returned to your library.

 Managing multiple apps to communicate insights with your team.

Coaches often feel like they have to download a special app to communicate with their staff and players. But you can handle all communication through the Hudl app. Whether you’re using it on an iPhone or Android, you can message individual players or everyone on your team, right in the app. And every single team–regardless of package level–has access, so you can stay connected at all times.

 Creating highlights to relive your game.

Because all of this data is handled by our analysts, we can automatically create a game recap so your community–players, parents and fans–can relive the action from Friday night. We’ll create a two-minute highlight reel of your team’s best plays from the game–including team stats, player stats, player photos and play descriptions.

Here’s an example of what you can expect come Sunday morning.

In addition, we’ll create recaps for your athletes, highlighting their best individual plays from the game. Here’s a full description on what you can expect to see this fall.

By taking advantage of Hudl Assist, you no longer have to waste time on the tedious tasks that used to occupy your time and resources. Give Hudl Assist a try today.