STARKVILLE — When Chris Jones first heard about SkyCoach, he joked it was “almost like cheating.”
But the more Jones, who was head football coach at Kemper County High School at the time, listened to friends at Madison Central High, Pearl High, and others, he realized he wanted to take advantage of any legal means possible.
That’s why Starkville High has joined the growing list of schools in Mississippi and in the Southeast adding SkyCoach to its sidelines. SkyCoach is a program that films games and immediately sends each play to iPads on the sidelines for coaches to review. Just one game into the 2017 season, Jones already sees the benefits.
“You can make in-game corrections,” Jones said. “A lot of times kids tend to tell stories: who missed that block? ‘It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me.’ We can go pull it up on the film and see that it was you.
“We’re not trying to fuss at you. We’re just trying to see who did it so we can correct it. We’re always one block away from a big run.”
That’s how the system worked in Starkville’s season-opening 43-3 victory against Noxubee County. Starkville averaged 6.3 yards per carry in the win, but the offense took a couple of series to get rolling. SkyCoach gave the Yellow Jackets the key.
“The first couple of series we were missing a few blocks,” Jones said. “We showed the quarterback what to look for and we executed the next few drives off of (identifying) two mistakes we had in the first two series.”
SkyCoach has 3 recording options: record with an iPhone, an iPad, or use your existing camera systems. While recording the play, you take a picture of the formation and tag the play with simple codes, like offense/defense, series, and big play indicator, all with the touch of your finger. You can record from as many angles as you want.
SkyCoach has multiple playback options: watch on an iPad, an iPhone, a laptop, a surface tablet, or connect an iOS device to a TV. Coaches and players can watch the actual video of the play to pinpoint exactly what happened or plan how to attack on the next series. You also have the ability to rewind, fast forward, and zoom to ensure you are getting the most out of watching your video.
The system comes in three levels — silver, gold, and platinum — and ranges in price from $1,595-2,195. Schools can run SkyCoach without an internet kit or use it with an existing camera kit.
To run the No Internet Kit, SkyCoach will provide schools with industrial grade networking equipment and the SkyCoach application to host the videos and play information. You will need a 64 bit Windows (7 and above) or 64 bit Mac (Yosemite 10.10 and above) computer to run the SkyCoach host software. We recommend an i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and an Ethernet port.
To utilize your existing sideline and end zone cameras, SkyCoach will provide you with the tools necessary for each camera from which you want to record. The SkyCoach capture software will run on a 64 bit Windows (7 and above) or 64 bit Mac (Yosemite 10.10 and above) computer. An i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, SSD drive with 5GB available storage per game, USB 3 port, and an Ethernet port is recommended.
Jones likened SkyCoach to the printed pictures NFL players were allowed to use when he played in the NFL. Now, though, he has a much more effective system with video capabilities.
SkyCoach is gaining traction in the state and in the South. It already is a hit in Louisiana. Mickey McCarty is the coach at Neville High School in Monroe, Louisiana, which has won two of the last three state championships. He said he first used the system at Battle on the Border — an event featuring elite high programs from the Southeast at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana — and then purchased it for his program.
Jones and McCarty delegate one assistant coach to handle the system for each side of the ball and make the appropriate corrections, even if the coaches aren’t always the ones correcting.
“Some of the kids are that savvy where they can use it to show us that they did wrong or the guy next to them did wrong,” Jones said. “(Cornerback) Natrone (Brooks), he’s one of those guys. (Linebacker) Zach (Edwards) is another. They’re so smart and so instinctive, they can look at it one time and say they did this, (they will ask), ‘Can I blitz on this one time?’ ”
SkyCoach also safeguards Starkville from plays that are held out of the playbook in previous games. Jones is fond of protecting his team from that because he does it.
“There’s stuff we might have planned for a week and see that, honestly, we don’t need it see we’ll save it for next week,” Jones said. “Some of the stuff that Oxford might see this Friday, they might not see us run against Noxubee because we didn’t need it. For them to fix it they’re going to need SkyCoach.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
