The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- August 30, 1999

The evolution of sports information
SIDs find direct correlation between statistics, publicity

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

Sports information departments have always kept and reported statistics, but the number of sports tracked and the number of feats measured have increased dramatically over the last 25 years.

Demand for statistics -- on the institutional, conference and national levels -- also has increased as the public has become accustomed to accessing statistics on Internet sports sites and in national newspapers.

That has translated into more work for sports information departments and statisticians, but also perhaps more recognition for student-athletes.

Jim Wright, the NCAA's director of statistics, has seen the trend from the trenches in his 30 years in sports statistics. In 1970, Wright was an assistant SID at the U.S. Air Force Academy. In 1974, he became the head SID at the University of Southern Colorado, and in 1975 he came to the NCAA.

"I would attribute the major changes in statistics (publication and promotion) to USA Today," Wright said. "My personal observation is that they were the first media entity to really emphasize statistics."

The staff of USA Today, which launched its publication on September 15, 1982, called the NCAA's national office and requested every statistic available. The paper published a "snapshot" feature, which often landed sports statistics on the front page, but it also featured an emphasis on sports statistics that was massive in breadth and depth. And the statistics USA Today emphasized were of a national nature, unlike those of most major newspapers of the time.

"Before USA Today, usually newspapers would run the stats of teams and conferences in their geographical area," Wright said. "And often we would struggle to even get our national statistics out. The SIDs would run them, but no one else would. It's not like that now."

Now, national sports statistics are likely to be featured in major newspapers, on numerous sites on the Internet, and on sports television shows. Through the Internet, sports fans are accustomed to being able to instantly access the stats of their favorite team, even though that team may be on the other side of the country.

And all of those statistics originate with a sports information department, which in some smaller schools may consist of only one or two full-time people and student assistants, all of whose individual contributions make the national comparisons possible.

"Without the statistics from the individual institutions, we could not keep national records," Wright said. "We can only keep as many records as we have statistics to compile them."

How it works

Most institutions in Division I send their statistics to their conferences, which then send them to the Association. Independent institutions send their statistics directly to the NCAA, as do many Division II and Division III institutions in those conferences that don't have a full-time conference staff (or one of the teams' SIDs willing to compile stats). At the end of each season, each sports information department is asked to provide a final form on the entire season to the Association, including stats on everyone who played.

Involving conferences is more efficient than the old way, which required each SID to send statistics directly to the NCAA, but those time savings have been eaten up by the sheer number of sports an SID must track.

"In 1975, the NCAA compiled the four divisions of football statistics, three divisions of men's basketball and three divisions of baseball statistics," Wright said. "Now we do four divisions of football, three divisions of women's volleyball, three each of men's and women's soccer, three each of men's and women's basketball, three each of men's and women's lacrosse, and three of men's ice hockey, baseball and softball."

Women's sports statistics were added to the NCAA's compilations in 1981-82, and over the years other sports have been added as the media and SIDs have requested them. The most recent addition was men's and women's soccer in 1998.

"We're sensitive to the sports information directors' workload," Wright said, "but they're also the ones asking us to add sports. Eventually, I think we should be able to provide every NCAA championship sport with some type of statistical rankings during its season."

In season, an SID may need to report a particular sport's statistics weekly or biweekly, depending on the sport. And while innovations in statistical computer software may assist greatly with the number crunching, they don't eliminate the need for a person to gather and input the information.

As statistical information gains in popularity in a particular sport, there are more requests to measure more feats -- whether it's assists, shots on goal or punts -- so those records can be kept.

Spotlighting student-athletes

While statistics are a great tool to promote fan interest and knowledge about the sport, statistics really help when it comes to shining a bright light on the accomplishments of student-athletes.

"A lot of people pay attention when someone -- even someone from a little-known institution -- breaks an NCAA record," Wright said. "It brings the student-athlete more attention, adds prestige to the accomplishment, and also helps the SIDs, the NCAA and even the fans put that accomplishment into perspective."

As an example, Wright pointed to a recent "Faces in the Crowd" column in Sports Illustrated that featured Will Van Dorn, a junior lacrosse player at Kean University who led all NCAA lacrosse players in points (9.31) and assists (5.75). That's the kind of accomplishment that would be overlooked without national statistics, Wright said.

Wright also noted that statistics allow SIDs to focus on the positive, even when a team does poorly. "Perhaps your football team is having a terrible season but your punter is second in the nation. You can focus on that, and maybe he'll be an all-American."

In the future, Wright wants it to be easier to submit statistics to the NCAA. "At some point in the not-too-distant future, we want to put all of our forms on our Web site and let the SIDs fill them out electronically.

"We've tried to make the reporting process as painless as possible, because our statistics depend greatly on the SIDs. The gathering of statistics is very much a collaborative effort among the SIDs, the conference offices and the NCAA. The NCAA can only be as good as they are."