Monthly Archives: December 2009

Does Coach Age Predict Performance? (Yes, but be careful.)

Posted on December 28, 2009 by David Roher

By David Roher I’m introducing the Speed Limit Coaching Corollary. If the coach of your favorite team is older than 55, or if your team is about to hire someone who’s older than 55, there’s a good chance you should … Continue reading →

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What is the chance of an NBA comeback when down by 35?

Posted on December 25, 2009 by dadler3

By Professor Carl Morris The Sacramento Kings came back to win on Monday night (Dec 21), when down by 35 points against the Bulls in Chicago with 20 minutes and 50 seconds (20:50) left.  When two even NBA teams play the chance that the trailing team would win from that situation is … Continue reading →

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What Do Professional Athletes Have in Common With Bankers?

Posted on December 22, 2009 by dadler3

By Daniel Adler Today, we will examine two industries.  Neither produces a tangible product.  Both have close ties to the government and receive billions of dollars in government assistance.  Both pay their top performers millions of dollars. Wall Street firms … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, MLB Baseball, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, NHL Hockey | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

No Less Worth Despite Their Girth: A Study of Overweight Coaches

Posted on December 21, 2009 by David Roher

By David Roher If you missed Saturday’s post on RAP, a new college coaching stat, you should read it here. When Kansas’ Mark Mangino and Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis departed at the end of the regular season, many took the … Continue reading →

Posted in NCAA Football | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Introducing RAP: A New Stat for College Coaches

Posted on December 19, 2009 by David Roher

By David Roher Coach evaluation is a difficult task to approach analytically. I’m currently working on a paper on NBA coaching with other HSAC members, and it’s been very difficult work. Coaches can’t be held entirely responsible for the action … Continue reading →

Posted in NCAA Basketball | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Iverson Gap: Why Valuing Players Is Even Harder Than You Think

Posted on December 17, 2009 by David Roher

By David Roher Note: This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post. The value of Allen Iverson is one of the most contentious topics in the world of basketball statistics. HuffPost’s own Dave Berri is well known for thinking that … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Weighing In On NFL Running Backs: Is Bigger Always Better?

Posted on December 16, 2009 by jakefisher723

By Jake Fisher and Elizabeth Fryman NFL running backs come in all shapes and sizes. Relative to other backs, Darren McFadden is tall (6’2) and skinny (210 lbs). Jerome Bettis was average (5’11) and large (255 lbs). The question we … Continue reading →

Posted in NFL Football | Tagged , | 11 Comments

How will Tiger do? A Statistical Look at Returns from Scandals Past

Posted on December 13, 2009 by David Roher

And that last part is kind of the point of this exercise. When Tiger does come back, the media is going to assign some causality to the current scandal, even if there is none whatsoever. If he’s bad early, it’ll because he’s distracted. If he dominates, it’ll be because he’s turned over a new leaf. The pattern is as predictable as it is stupid. My guess is that Tiger will continue to play golf the way that he did before. Maybe he’ll struggle in the first few tournaments, but he’ll round back into form pretty quickly. Continue reading →

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Guest Speaker: Boston Celtics President Rich Gotham

Posted on December 11, 2009 by emfryman

By Elizabeth Fryman On the eve of the Boston Celtics’ ninth straight win, HSAC welcomed Celtics Team President Rich Gotham to speak at our last meeting of the semester.

Posted in Business, NBA Basketball | Tagged , | 3 Comments

A New Way to Measure Payroll Efficiency (And what it says about the Yankees and Parity)

Posted on December 10, 2009 by David Roher

By David Roher Note: This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post. Did the 2009 New York Yankees have the most efficient payroll in baseball? According to some recent research we’ve done, they did indeed. Just not in the conventional … Continue reading →

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