SkyCoach’s in-game efficiency keeps Utah lacrosse happy with instant replay technology
Photo: Utah Lacrosse
When Utah hired Andrew McMinn as the head lacrosse coach in the fall of 2021, assistant coach Sean Doyle made the move to the Utes as well, and the duo brought SkyCoach with them.
McMinn and Doyle were familiar with SkyCoach’s replay technology, and pleased with the product, as they had used it at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh for a few years. They had a bigger budget at Utah and additional replay options, but SkyCoach is what they know and what has efficiently worked for their lacrosse teams over the years.
“We fly everywhere and it’s not a big issue. It’s a typical travel bag and we’re able to fit all of the equipment. That’s a benefit too. It’s easy to travel with.”
It’s just the early stages of the 2024 lacrosse season and Utah is already enjoying their new SkyCoach setup.
“The last two years have not been an easy process compared to this season. We now have a camera to film. Last year we filmed on an iPad. It was just complicated with the iPad. Using the camera has been an absolute game changer for us,” said Doyle, who said the Utah coaches mainly use SkyCoach at halftime, but he’s looking at the instant feed during the game after goals.
“We have camera with tripod and the Remote Camera Kit monitor to the camera. We use that to start and stop our clipping which sends replays to the iPad on the sideline for us to look at.”
“The SkyCoach setup is fairly simple,” Doyle said, adding, “We fly everywhere and it’s not a big issue. It’s a typical travel bag and we’re able to fit all of the equipment. That’s a benefit too. It’s easy to travel with. The setup does take a little time, but overall for what we get out of it, it’s definitely worth it.
“When talking to other coaches or promoting SkyCoach, the biggest thing is don’t use an iPad as your main source of film, but rather using the RCK with an actual camera,” he said. “That’s the biggest game changer for us this year. It’s just such a smooth process from there. After the setup, as long as the antennas are talking to each other, it’s smooth sailing every time. We’re pretty happy with the efficiency of all of it.”
As far as what the Utes are looking for at halftime with the SkyCoach technology, Doyle said: “For an extra man opportunity, having those opportunities and not scoring in the first half we look at it at halftime to see where that weakness was in the defense, then show the guys the exact look going into the second half and execute on it. It gives us so pretty direct feedback from the players on where the clear exposure was.
“We play a pretty fast game and the disadvantages of not having replay is there’s only so much you can gather from goals at the end of the quarter. The biggest thing is you’re able to collect that information when you have the iPad on the sideline. We use the tags, the hearts and stuff for our goals or goals against us so it’s easy access looking at the favorites as opposed to going through a hundred clips in the first quarter. It’s very quick access and it slows the game down for me, plus gives access to the players. That’s definitely something when you don’t have that when you have to ask players, ‘Hey, what happened there?’ or assuming what happened as opposed to having that iPad in front of you to slow it all down and communicate with players.”
