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stillers4me
08-02-2015, 09:14 AM
The Pittsburgh Steelers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/pit/pittsburgh-steelers) have entered the analytics fray after previous skepticism.

Meet Karim Kassam, a former Carnegie Mellon professor of East-African and Indian descent, who is now the Steelers’ new analytics and football research coordinator. Kassam was doing advanced analytics for Legendary Pictures, run by Steelers minority owner Thomas Tull, and started moonlighting with the Steelers. The storied NFL franchise hired him full time over the summer.


An ESPN.com project from February (http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12331388/the-great-analytics-rankings) gauging the analytical fervor of professional sports teams classified the Steelers as skeptics of advanced stats (http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12331388/the-great-analytics-rankings#nfl-pit). That is changing.


“It’s the way all sports are going,” Kassam, a four-year assistant professor of social and decision sciences at CMU and a Harvard grad, told ESPN.com. “It’s the way the league is going. They decided it was time.”

Kassam works in the scouting department under general manager Kevin Colbert and will provide information for coaches during the season. One of his first projects is evaluating college players, “trying to dig up what numbers are going to help us predict who is going to be successful,” Kassam said...........

read more @ http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/173089/why-the-steelers-hired-a-carnegie-mellon-professor-for-advanced-analytics

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What a novel concept...creating a competitive advantage without cheating. :tt03:

Mojouw
08-02-2015, 10:51 AM
Need more than one guy. That is just a drop in the bucket. Look at what analytics have done for the Pirates. I would argue it has given them a massive edge. On the field it has led to shifts that prevent runs and off the field it has led to them acquiring and fixing pitchers that no one else saw the value in.

If the Steelers could find a way to do that for football...incredible advantage.

stillers4me
08-03-2015, 06:31 AM
Perhaps this is how they plan to make better draft picks in the future?