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cavalier sports 6 CAVALIER CORNER M att Edwards is in his fifth season on Bronco Mendenhall's staff and sec- ond as the director of football analytics. The grandson of the late Hall of Fame BYU football coach LaVell Edwards, Edwards started his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at BYU un- der Mendenhall in 2013 and 2014, work- ing with the offense. He came to UVA in 2017 after a two-year coaching stint at Southern Virginia to be a football analyst for Mendenhall. Cavalier Corner: You come from a strong football coaching pedigree. What got you interested in analytics and how the data correlates with the sport and how coaches do their jobs? Edwards: "Growing up I was always interested in math and stats. I ended up majoring in math and taking some sports analytics classes after graduation. "I knew I wanted to work in sports, and thought coaching was going to be my path, but then a job as an analyst opened on Coach Mendenhall's staff and I realized I could combine my love of math and num- bers, and my love of sports into a career." Cavalier Corner: Are there popular coaching myths that everyone hears and believes, but can be disproven by analyt- ics? Edwards: "Yes. There are a few big top- ics in analytics that are contrary to football conventional wisdom. One of which is, what to do on fourth downs? Historical data points to the fact that coaches should be more aggressive on fourth-down deci- sions to maximize possible points scored and winning probability. "Another big topic is the importance of running the football. Coaches have tradi- tionally felt running the ball, and stopping the run, were keys to winning football. But the data doesn't support that, and actually points to an increased emphasis on passing the ball." Cavalier Corner: Bronco Mendenhall has created specific data points that he be- lieves leads to victory. Can you share what those are, and how he and the staff went about setting those data points? Edwards: "I'm not sure he would be happy if I shared some of his secret sauce here, but Coach Mendenhall is very data driven in everything he does. He loves the numbers, and the data behind why things happen, and wants to be well informed be- fore he makes decisions. "We have analyzed years of data and found a few key performance indicators for our team that give us the best chance to win. We are constantly analyzing and tweaking our team goals to reflect the in- formation from these studies." Cavalier Corner: What fascinates you the most about analytics when it comes to football? Do you find yourself having a passion for data points in other aspects of life, not just football? Edwards: "I think I was naturally drawn to football because of my background. When I was young and my grandpa was still coaching, we would go to all the BYU home football games and I just developed a strong love of football. "Because of my academic background I tend to have a quantitative look at lots of things in life, but probably nothing more than football." Cavalier Corner: Because of analytics, how do you look at a box score differently than you did before? What are the data points you prioritize the most? Edwards: "A lot of what I look at in a box score depends on the scope of the box score. If I am looking at a traditional box score, I will look at yards per play, turnovers, field position difference and red-zone scoring. "If I am looking at a deeper, analytical box score I usually tend to focus on per- play or per-drive metrics. A stat called Ex- pected Points Added (EPA) is a good way to gauge per-play or per-drive success." — Vincent Briedis five questions with Director Of Football Analytics Matt Edwards Edwards, the grandson of the late Hall of Fame BYU football coach LaVell Edwards, is in his fifth season on Virginia's football staff. PHOTO BY JIM DAVES/COURTESY UVA