Powerhouse Jenks football benefits from the speed, reliability of SkyCoach sideline replay
Oklahoma 6A powerhouse Jenks High School has been part of the SkyCoach team for several years. The Trojans have incredible football facilities on campus along with Allan Trimble Stadium, which can almost hold 10,000 people. With the potential for that many fans to be at a Friday night game, the 18-time state championship football team needed the fastest and most reliable sideline replay solution on the market.
“Sideline replay is so valuable. I think all coaches understand the value in watching film,” said Jenks head coach Keith Riggs, who has been at the helm for the Trojans since 2018. “We watch practice film after practice. We watch game film after a game. We do that to get better as coaches and players. This is really just an exponential growth in that you’re watching it in real-time, so you can make changes. The learning and improvement just happens so much faster and that’s a huge advantage.
“With SkyCoach, over the years the product has improved each year, which makes the setup easier and easier for coaches. The speed with which we get the video clips back is invaluable. If you’re waiting on downloads, you’re wasting time. The internal SkyCoach wifi and the speed of the video is huge for us. It’s instant.”
“We have got so used to the SkyCoach replay and seeing it.”
Riggs has two coaches and an equipment manager in charge of the SkyCoach setup. Currently, the Trojans have our popular Platinum package running two camera angles: a wide shot from the press box and one from the end zone. On the sideline they have two iPads and two TVs, while the coaches in the box have four iPads.
“It just gives you such a huge advantage during a game to be able to watch the film on the sideline. As coaches, you’re always making adjustments during the game, but to be able to watch it and show your kids between series is invaluable through the course of a game,” the coach said.
Riggs really noticed how much he and his coaching staff rely on SkyCoach was during recent trips playing in the state of Texas. As it stands, Texas high school football teams are not allowed to have sideline replay technology during games as the state follows the rules of the NCAA.
“We played in Texas a couple of times over the last six years and we weren’t able to use the system,” Riggs said, adding, “We’ve used it for so long that we sort of take it for granted. Those games really hit home how valuable it was to our coaches and team to make quick in-game adjustments. Most of the kids are visual learners, so seeing it is such a huge advantage over trying to tell them something happened or you need to do this next time. The benefits have been huge.”
He continued: “The players also want to understand why. When I was growing up if a coach told me to do something or do this, I just would do it. It’s not a bad thing. They want to understand the why. To be able to say to a player, ‘Look at this play. Here’s why this happened because you didn’t do this or that or you would have been open if you do this.’ For them to understand that why is a big help too.
“I think it’s making smarter players. To get better when you play you have to correct the mistakes and I’m stating the obvious, but it’s easier to fix it if they’re seeing it and hearing it from the coach. The chances of it getting corrected significantly go up. You are accelerating player learning and development by fixing those things immediately after the mistake instead of the next day or Monday.”
The Trojans have become so integrated with the SkyCoach system that it’s something the whole team is used to at this point. Coaches are looking for in-game adjustments and advantages to capitalize on while the players are trained on what to do next.
“As soon as they walk off the field they head over to the TVs to watch film until it’s time to head back out,” Riggs said. “We have got so used to the SkyCoach replay and seeing it.”
Jenks fell short of its 19th title in 2023 when the Trojans lost to Bixby, another SkyCoach customer, in the Oklahoma 6A-1 state championship game. According to MaxPreps, Jenks was the No. 6 team in Oklahoma at the end of last season. Bixby was No. 1.
