Co-founder & CEO · 2020–2025
Clutch Sports Data
A sports analytics company I co-founded to give college basketball staffs what pro teams have: one place for their data, reports that build themselves, and insights coaches can take onto the court.
Both of our clients made the 2021 Final Four
Houston and Baylor met in the national semifinal. Baylor went on to win the national championship.
The problem
College teams have more data than ever, but few have the people or tools to use it.
Data
Stats live in many places, from hand-kept logs to Synergy and Genius Sports, with no plan to bring them together.
Tools
No central, easy-to-use platform built around what a staff actually needs.
Adoption
College sports have been slower than the pros to make analytics part of how they work.
Resources
Unlike pro teams, most programs can't hire data engineers and analysts full time.
What we built
An end-to-end data platform, tailored to each staff, that works like a virtual assistant coach.
1 · Collect
2 · Centralize
One cloud database
Every source cleaned, joined and managed by us
3 · Report
4 · Act
Coaching staff
Game plans and decisions on the court
Case study: hustle stats at Houston
Our first project, and the pilot that turned Houston into a paying customer.
Before
Staff tallied hustle plays by hand on a printed Excel sheet.
After
A custom hustle metric, counted per possession, showing coaches at a glance which players bring the most effort.
- Player profiles for Houston's own roster and upcoming opponents: where on the floor each player is most efficient, which play types they're best in, and how they trend across the season.
- Custom analyses on request, from scouting transfers in the offseason to game plans for upcoming opponents, delivered straight to the coaches.
- One data stream that joins team-kept stats with outside sources, so every question can be answered at the player and team level.
A season of scouting reports
Every opponent scouting report we delivered to Houston in 2020–21, through the Final Four.
Regular season
January to March
Conference tournament
American Athletic, March
NCAA tournament
March to April
Inside a scouting report
27 pages: how the opponent plays as a team, then a profile and shot chart for every player in the rotation.
Four Factors
Efficiency, shooting, rebounding, turnovers and free throws on both ends
Play types
Points per possession by play: pick and roll, cuts, transition, spot ups
Shot types
Which shots they take and make, from the rim to deep threes
Team shot chart
Where on the floor they score and where they struggle
Lineup analysis
Which five-man groups work best together
Playing time
Who plays and how much
Player profiles and shot charts
Role, efficiency, shooting, playmaking, rebounding and defense for each rotation player, with a shot chart for each
Analyses we built
For Houston's 2020–21 season, plus player radar plots for Baylor
How we worked with each team
Start from the staff's real pain points, then ship something they can use right away.
Discover
Agree on the team's goals, interview the staff, and confirm the biggest pain points.
Assess
Map how they work today and where it can improve.
Plan
Rank the initiatives, recommend what to build, and highlight quick wins.
Build and iterate
Use the tools they already have, deliver a test product, and refine it with the staff.
About the company
Clutch Sports Data, Houston, 2020–2025
- My role
- Co-founder and CEO. Led product and strategy, pitched the company, and built reports and analyses for our basketball clients.
- Team
- Four co-founders, plus a software engineer and a data analyst intern
- Clients
- University of Houston and Baylor University men's basketball
- Data
- Team-kept logs, Synergy Sports, Genius Sports and public stats
- Business model
- Software as a service: tiered annual packages, from a free pilot to a fully custom platform
- Market
- Started with NCAA men's basketball (about 350 Division I schools), with women's basketball, other leagues and other sports next
- Startup programs
- Rice OwlSpark accelerator; pitched to the Pokatok sports tech program in 2022