SkyCoach’s ‘ease of use’ is a perfect fit for SID of 22 teams at Shorter University

Photo: Shorter University

When the Gulf South Conference implemented officials replay for football and basketball, Kylie League, the Sports Information Director at Shorter University in Georgia, had some initial concerns.

League, who oversees 22 different athletic teams at Shorter, 19 of which are sponsored by the NCAA, does not have a sports or broadcast background.

“For someone who doesn’t understand that side of athletics or broadcasting, SkyCoach makes that extremely easy,” she told us during a phone interview. “It’s fairly easy for a single person to setup and get going. Every time an official has come here they are so thankful that we have a great replay setup.”

“SkyCoach worked so well for football, I thought we should try it for basketball.”

“I would definitely harp on the ease of use,” League said, adding, “At first when the conference told us we had to use replay for football and basketball, I was dreading it because we have 22 sports and I’m the only SID, but once we got on the call with (SkyCoach CEO) Keith Simpson for training, it was easy. It added a little more time for the football setup only because a stadium is way bigger than a basketball court. For basketball, our setup is probably about 15 minutes.”

“We tried to use our own equipment for basketball and it was such a disaster. SkyCoach worked so well for football, I thought we should try it for basketball,” League said.

Photo: Shorter University

For basketball, the Hawks use a two-camera setup. One camera on each baseline from the top of their indoor track around the gym. The replay iPad remains at the scorer’s table for the official.

For whatever reason, League said the SkyCoach replay system is used more frequently during the men’s games than the women’s: “It’s probably only been used in two women’s games this season whereas it’s been every single men’s game at least once.”

The conference set the standards and rules. Coaches do not get challenges, so the decision to look at something is solely up to the discretion of the official in charge.

“A lot of times they’ll take a look at the shot clock and whether it went off before the shot. That’s a huge one,” League said. “This year we had a flagrant foul reversed. It was against one of our players. The officials did not call a flagrant until our coach said something and the official decided to look at it. They looked and saw malicious intent so they reversed the call and that helped us in that regard.”

More from League: “I know our coaches like that the ref can go to the table and have a good look from either angle and it catches everything. They definitely appreciate that we have that ability (with SkyCoach).”

Photo: Shorter University