By Tim Chartier

Let’s begin in the fall of 2013 when three students walked into my office. They asked if we could create an analytics group for the men’s basketball team at Davidson College. That’s a tall order. This is the program with notable successes including but not limited to being the team for which Stephen Curry played during college. I said, “If you are OK with the possibility that we may not create anything usable, I’m all in.” They agreed and so it began. We met with assistant coaches every week for 2 months. By mid-season, the analytics were a big part of game preparation for the team. We were part of the team, albeit from the sidelines. That group doubled in size every year until we hit about 70 students and continued to grow until it reached 100. 

That first year of the sports analytics group, we were flown up with the team for a game in Niagara, New York. We were invited to all the pre-game events. In a pre-game meeting, video and game analysis were offered by the assistant coaches. A math major and cofounding student member of the group turned to me and whispered, “Oh wow, that’s my work. Those are the insights I found in the data.” We both knew this was a moment he’d share 5 or 10 years later. I supported his work but the work being shared derived from him. It was his. He’d created it.

There are a variety of examples like these from that work. Long-term moments have happened with students when they’ve shared our draft model with an NBA team, presented analytics to ESPN for a story that appeared in ESPN Magazine, or led an information session with a CEO of a big company who came to see the workings of our sports analytics group. 

Creating such memories takes risks. My style of mentorship gives students ample space to discover and have ownership. For that to work, the student has to be willing to step into the unknown as we very often simply don’t immediately know how to tackle a problem from a coach or national media outlet. We stand in that unknown, explore and discover. To establish a strong, productive relationship, a student needs to know this will be the process. I’ve always seen my role in mentorship as aiding a student to move to greater levels of independence, which for some students results in my simply receiving periodic updates. 

The sports analytics group became so large it transitioned into a campus student group with operations run via student leadership. I serve as a faculty advisor, helping as needed. Being free of the administrative side of the group has also enabled me to pick up more smaller group research projects. For example, during this term, I’m working on a project connected to the NBA League Office, a project connected to an MLB team, and a project with a NASCAR team. In each case, I don’t know immediately how to solve the posed problem. If I knew how to do it, it wouldn’t be research. And so, the student and I step into that unknown and begin to create. We discover and, so very often, we make a life-long memory – together.

When those three students walked into my office, I agreed to collaborate in order to support them. To me, the key isn’t where we went but how we started and the journey that followed. I didn’t know if the basketball team would ever use our work. I never dreamed of what we’d accomplish. What was the key to that success? I moved in the direction of what I do well with students. I enjoy collaborating on open, applied problems. I enjoy mentoring work where students are very much leading the way. Frankly, had you asked me to create a group of 100 students supplying analytics to college coaches, professional teams and national media, I probably would have tried to direct you to someone else. The journey was one idea, one project, and one student at a time.

Impactful learning happens in and outside the classroom and has the potential to create meaningful and empowering memories for both students and teachers alike. What is your mentorship style? Don’t know? Listen to students. It took three students walking in my office to move me into sports analytics with coaches. Listen to others as they listen to your stories. I see this as a big value in the community of the MAA. From invited talks to informal conversations in the hallways at meetings, teachers (from elementary school to graduate school) talk about what they do and inspire me. Looking for more opportunities to work with students outside of class?  Look for where you are impactful with students. Look for where your strengths touch lives, create empowerment, and foster confidence in students’ abilities. That’s where your teaching outside of the classroom can create memorable moments for students and for you. Take in one idea, one project, and one student at a time.

Tim Chartier is the Joseph R. Morton Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Davidson College. You can hear more about his work on sports analytics on the Grok Science Radio Show.