STT 834: Sports Analytics Capstone

What You’ll Build

A complete analytics project addressing personnel or revenue decisions from an organizational perspective. You’ll produce: a written report, public presentation, documented GitHub repository, and professional GitHub Pages website.

Why It’s Different

• Integrated with MTH 803: Four-week intensive launch, then maintain momentum during speaker series
• Portfolio focus: Website designed to show recruiters, not just satisfy course requirements
• Weekly standups: Professional workflow practice with peer problem-solving
• Iterative pivoting encouraged: Adjust research questions as data realities emerge

What Makes This AI-Forward

Explicit guidance on using AI for debugging, code scaffolding, and exploration—but you must explain every analytical decision, methodology choice, and code implementation. During standups and presentations, expect questions about any aspect of your work.

Example Projects (from past cohorts)

• Impact on player performance when transferring NCAA men’s basketball conferences
• Contract financial modeling in the Premier League
• Designing a Stuff+ model for NCAA pitching

Prerequisites: MTH 801, STT 832, MTH 803 (concurrent)

Deliverables

• In-class presentation (25%; Finals Week)
• Finals Week: Public presentation (25%)
• Portfolio website (30%)
• Weekly standup participation (10%)
• Class participation (10%)