6 Hours to 5 Minutes:

The Minnesota Vikings\' philosophy on the use of computers.
by: Mike Eayrs
Director of Research and Development, Minnesota Vikings
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How would you like to add several hours of "free" time to your schedule each week, especially during the football season? Time to view some additional videotape, review the game plan, or maybe just get some rest.

A major catalyst in freeing time for the staff of the Minnesota Vikings has been the use of computers within our football operations. We have never viewed computers as a magic bullet to solve problems. We still rely on the intelligence and creativity of our staff to make decisions and call plays. Instead, our emphasis in using computers has been to assist our staff by providing useful information and freeing our coaches from menial, redundant, and time-consuming work.

For example, several years ago our linebackers coach presented a report to his players at their weekly Thursday meeting. The information originated from our film takeoff pads and was rewritten into a very useful chart that took about six hours per week for him to complete by hand. This chart was simply a reorganization of information regarding formations, downs, distances and plays. Sorting information and generating lists like this are jobs ideally suited for a computer.

With this in mind, we then wrote a computer program that used information from our game-analysis files to produce a computer-generated report, similar to the handwritten chart. The major difference was the computer could produce in five minutes the same report that previously required six hours to complete manually. The computer application essentially added over five hours of time each week for this coach to do other things.

Back to the Future

The Vikings first began using computers in the 1970s. The defensive staff, under Coach Bud Grant, would take their film takeoff sheets to a local computer company to generate opponent-tendency reports. In 1982, management decided to hire a technology specialist with a dual emphasis of writing applications and teaching interested employees computer skills.

Our strategy has always been to empower staff members who have a desire to develop computer skills, rather than forcing everyone to learn how to use computers. This allows everyone to benefit from computer technology (quality information in a shorter amount of time) without requiring everyone to operate a computer.

Over the last 15 years, the use of computer technology by our coaching staff has experienced significant growth. In 1985 none of our coaches used computers; they simply requested reports that were produced for their use. Then in 1992, under the direction of head coach Dennis Green, one of our assistant coaches Brian Billick (now Ravens head coach), requested and was given a computer workstation for use in his office. Brian is a very intelligent and creative person who began using this computer effectively to analyze information and produce reports. Our entire staff benefited from his fine work, and soon other coaches requested computers for their offices, too. By the beginning of the 1999 season, every member of our coaching staff had a computer workstation in his office.

Computers have also changed a great deal. Ten years ago the average computer weighed over 30 pounds, took up quite a bit of office space, required considerable time and effort to learn how to use, and cost about $3,500. But today's computer can weigh less than four pounds, can be portable (several staff and players take laptops along on road trips), are easier to learn (most applications have easily accessed "help" features), and cost around $2,500. Computer technology is one of the few things that has become lighter, easier to operate and less expensive.

Combining Information = Simplicity

Each year, the NFL holds its official scouting combine for top college draft prospects in Indianapolis. We have applied our rules for determining how useful computers might be at this venue and have found that they are a vital organizational tool. We concluded that the information being gathered was obviously important, would need to be modified in the future (some prospects hold individual workouts after the combine), and would need to be flexible and easily manipulated (some coaches only wanted information on players from their position group, some scouts only players from their area).

This project was ideally suited to a computer and also illustrates the impact of technology. Ten years ago the information from the event was recorded manually and a paper report was sent out approximately two weeks following the combine. This year the information was recorded electronically, and we received a computer disk with the data before some of our staff even returned from Indianapolis!

We then took the combine data and added it to the scouting information we already had on each prospect and distributed it to each staff member in a format they requested - from paper hardcopy reports to computer disks formatted with spreadsheets. It was a win-win situation whereby each staff member was given the most recent information on which to base evaluation decisions and in the format that he felt most comfortable using.

Getting Digitized

Another recent example of our progressive philosophy regarding computer usage is our digital video system. Two years ago the Vikings purchased a digital video sports editor and two coaches stations from Avid Sports. All of our football operations staff and management were invited to the training sessions, but attendance was not required. Several coaches decided to attend and four of them ended up investing the time and effort necessary to become very proficient at using the system. These four coaches are now able to produce a great deal of their own cutup tapes for analysis and meetings, giving them direct control of this information and saving them time by not having to rely on others to complete these video projects. This also reduces the workload for our video department and allows the rest of the staff to receive video information in less time - another win-win situation.

We also have to determine in advance how much equipment will be necessary - sometimes sales people have a tendency to influence buyers in the direction of buying more than they might need - and project how long the equipment can realistically be useful. Be certain to adequately budget for quality technical support - it is usually only a question of when, not if, before you will need some help, and it is a good idea to negotiate the cost of this technical support in advance.

We have always found it useful to talk with other teams currently using the computer equipment or applications that we are consider purchasing. Other organizations' opinions and experiences have helped us to determine which companies and products can best help us. Our philosophy is to emphasize value - the combination of a good price, good technical support, quality equipment and a reliable company. The Vikings are considered a very technologically progressive team, yet the costs for this aspect of our operation are significantly below most other NFL teams.

Getting the Ball Rolling

I strongly believe all football programs can benefit from the addition of computer technology. A good starting point in this endeavor is to identify a person on your staff who has the most interest in computers, get him a computer, and allow him to learn how to use it. If no one on your current staff is interested, consider hiring a person with good computer skills when you fill your next staff opening. Empower this person with good equipment, good technical support, and begin by automating simple projects.

My first computer-related task as a college assistant coach was automating the process of sending out recruiting letters. The computer allowed us to personalize aspects of the recruiting letter without having to rewrite generic paragraphs about our school and athletic program. It saved us over 100 person-hours in the very first recruiting season we used it.

You will identify other worthwhile projects for using computers the longer you have them. Your staff will save time and begin to build a quality information base to assist them with decisions. Computers are not only here to stay, their use will continue to grow. The Internet, email and e-commerce will soon become vital aspects of football operations. The real positive impact of any technology is how it can make our lives - personal and professional - better, so start thinking about how computers can improve yours. Mike Eayrs has been with the Minnesota Vikings for 15 years and first began using computers while coaching 23 years ago. Eayrs has coached at the college and high school levels and holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Oregon. In addition to his duties with the Vikings, he is available as a technology consultant to other football organizations.
Our staff has a process for determining whether using computers would be advantageous for any given task. Our general rules are to use computers when:

1. We want to store information that is important to our success.

2. This information needs to be modified often and/or modified over an extended period of time.

3. The information needs to be flexible and made available in multiple formats at multiple times.

An important aspect of the Vikings' technology philosophy is to practice wise economics. When purchasing computer technology, keep in mind that the total cost of a technology-related purchase consists of three basic components:

1. The initial cost of acquiring all items (equipment, installation, training and software licenses).

2. The cost of updates for the software licenses.

3. The cost of technical support during the time this equipment will be used.

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