Extra Points: Geek Squads

By Lee Pace

Fifty years ago, the Tar Heels' head football manager went to a mammoth mainframe computer residing in six cabinets in the basement of Phillips Hall and fed into it dozens of punch cards representing football plays taken from 35mm film. Several hours later, Chris Schleter hauled a stack of printouts back to Kenan Field House so Coach Bill Dooley and his assistants could use the data to plan for that Saturday's football game.

"This allows them to get the scouting reports on Tuesday instead of Thursday," said Schleter, a computer science major. "I'm a typical inventor trying to set a better mousetrap."

In 2024, that mousetrap is on technological steroids. When the Tar Heels kick off against N.C. Central Saturday evening, coaches will communicate with players on the field via walkie-talkies and radio waves and they'll wield Apple iPad Pro and Air tablet computers in the booth and on the sidelines to coach their players in real time. Both practices are new this fall following NCAA rules changes in the offseason.

"The tablets are so good, it's like cheating," defensive line coach Ted Monachino says. "There are so many things you can address immediately. Did we lose leverage? How did we fit the gap? You can solve problems a lot faster. You don't have to rely on eyes in the box or the words of the player. You've got it right there."

"I absolutely love the tablets," quarterback Conner Harrell adds. "You come to the sideline and wonder, what'd I miss? Was someone open? Last year, Drake Maye would come to the sideline asking questions. What did this guy do, what did that guy do? He would love it. Now we can see it all."

Thirty years after the NFL allowed communication between coaches and players, the NCAA has followed. The debate was reignited last year in the wake of the Michigan sign-stealing scandal, and in April, the NCAA approved in-helmet communication. One player on offense and one on defense have a coach in their ear. The radio is turned on when the play clock resets and is turned off when the ball is snapped or when 15 seconds is hit. The helmets have only receiving capabilities, the player cannot talk back to the coach.

Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey works from the press box and hits a button on a device in front of him to open his headset to Harrell, who has two audio receivers built into his helmet. Lindsey gives Harrell the play call and any short, direct coaching points before the 15-second mark. Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins is doing the same thing with linebacker Power Echols.

"It's a valuable tool," Lindsey says. "You talk about situational stuff. If we're just into field goal range, I might remind him, run this play, but if it's not there, throw the ball away. Do not take a sack. Or on a certain down-and-distance, I might tell him there's a high-percentage pressure the defense likes to run. Be alert for that."

Collins coaches from the sideline and has a hand-held walkie-talkie he talks into. "You can add a little extra information, a few tidbits," he says. "You might say, 'Hey, if you see this formation or that formation, be ready for this or that.' It's nice to have, but you have to be quick."

The tablets are the real game-changer. Each team is allowed to have 18 units operating during the game. The Carolina staff deploys seven with the coaches upstairs and 11 among coaches on the sidelines. Fans have been accustomed since the 2013 NFL season to seeing coaches and players using Microsoft Surface tablets on the sidelines of pro games, but they are not watching video footage; they are actually allowed to only look at four still photographs taken of each play—one shot just before the snap of the ball and three more as the play evolves.

Individual conferences have struck their own deals with computer manufacturers, and the ACC in the summer announced its partnership with Apple. The tablets the Tar Heel coaches use have access to three video feeds shot from different angles. As soon as the the offense or defense comes off the field, the plays from that series are fed within seconds to each of the tablets used by the coaches on that side of the ball. By the time the players take a seat on the bench, their coach can show everything that just happened. There is also a tablet with special teams action.

"It definitely makes it easier to fix your mistakes right on the spot, rather than have to draw it up," says cornerback Marcus Allen. "You get off the field and you can pinpoint exactly what you needed to do here, needed to do there. You can scheme and game plan on the fly."

During stints as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Florida from 2013-16, Collins had an assistant diagram every play in real time with personnel group, formation and receivers routes. When the series was over, he'd review every play before addressing his players.

Now that process is accomplished with video feed. Collins has set up what he calls a "coaching pod" on the sideline—a half dozen chairs in a circle at the far left end of the sideline. He and defensive analyst Ty McKenzie, a former NFL linebacker and assistant coach who joined the Tar Heel staff last spring, review every snap with managers surrounding them and holding signs to ward off prying eyes. At times, Collins will want the entire defensive staff to sit in for a quick meeting before the individual coaches take their tablets to their position groups. Collins and McKenzie are connected with three coaches in the booth, and they review every play.

"I'll communicate with the coaches anything I have to say, then they review that series with their guys," Collins says. "While the coaches are getting that stuff fixed, I stay there with Ty and we're thinking about the next series. What's working? What are they doing? I'm thinking down the road about what's coming next."

The system worked perfectly in the season opener at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers used a number of formations and plays they hadn't used in 2023, and the tablets allowed the coaches to show the players what was happening and how to adjust.

"Minnesota was doing all new stuff we had not prepared for," Collins says. "We were able to watch the video and see exactly what was happening. We held them to 15 yards rushing in the second half because of the technology. We could see it and show it. There was no guess work involved."

Of course, with any good technology, nothing is perfect. The NCAA's idea of curtailing sign-stealing wasn't totally addressed as coaches on the sideline still have to use hand signals for players who don't actually convene in a huddle and aren't within voice communication distance of the quarterback or linebacker—wide receivers and defensive backs in particular.

"Until you get radio into 11 helmets, you're still going to have to use signals," Collins says. "That won't change."

And there is the issue of what happens when something goes wrong? Lindsey chuckles thinking of using the helmet communication on an experimental basis in the Tar Heels' bowl game last year against West Virginia.

"First play of the game, I'm screaming in the headset for Conner to hear me," Lindsey says. "He's not getting the play. Well, I hadn't pushed the button. The sound was dead."

The video feed transverses from cameras to coaching booths to a console on the sideline to the tablets via fiber wire, so fortunately there's no issue of spotty internet service or slow signal populating. But during the latter stages of the Tar Heels' 38-20 win over Charlotte last week, the in-helmet communication between Collins and linebacker Caleb LaVallee went dead. Some of the players got the proper call via hand signals, but not everyone. And the 49ers scored on a 28-yard pass play. You can bet that part of the Tar Heels' preparation this week is rehearsing what to do when the gadgets go haywire.

"It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are," the British journalist Clive James once posited. Stay tuned as technology impacts the 2024 football season as never before.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has been writing about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and reporting from the sidelines on radio broadcasts since 2004. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

Players Mentioned

Marcus Allen

Power Echols

Conner Harrell

Caleb LaVallee

Drake Maye

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