Three Tools to Help You Coach Better

Posted August 26, 2010 by Kim Burnham
Under  • Tips & Tricks

Along the way, we’ve had some great articles that explain how certain tools used alongside your video can help you win. Sure—they’re not brand new articles, but they’re still as relevant now as they were then.

Let’s ask the question we know is on all coaches’ minds:

How can I use my video to help my team and athletes improve?

We’d love to show you.

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Free Desktop Wallpapers and Logos

Posted August 24, 2010 by Kyle Murphy
Under  • Technology

Coaches and parents have been requesting copies of our logos a lot recently. They’ve even asked for Hudl-themed desktop wallpapers.

We’re flattered. So, we spent a little time making a few simple backgrounds to put on your computer. While you’re at it, grab one of our logos to use on your team’s website.

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5 Tips for In-season Strength and Conditioning

Posted August 20, 2010 by Khari Reynolds
Under  • Guest Post

Khari Reynolds played defensive back for the University of Nebraska (Lincoln, Neb.), and later, played center back for William and Mary College (Norfolk, Va.). He holds the record for the 10-yard dash at the University of Nebraska and was All-Yankee Conference in 1999 at William and Mary College.

As a promising athlete at Egg Harbor Township High School (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.), Reynolds faced the daunting challenge of preparing himself to be recognized by college recruiters. Today, Reynolds helps athletes in a variety of sports improve their speed and agility, as well as understand the tools they will need – on and off the playing field – to help them reach their full potential as an athlete.

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Break Down a Football Game in 30 Minutes

Posted August 19, 2010 by Mike "Mav" Aveni
Under  • Tips & Tricks

Mike Aveni is the assistant football coach at Silver Lake High School in Kingston, Mass. Coach Aveni has spent many years coaching football and is extremely familiar with the work that comes along with breaking down game film.

Whether you are a seasoned veteran or you’ve never analyzed a game before – you can’t truly appreciate the work it takes to breakdown a game play-by-play until you’ve stayed up ‘til 3am doing it yourself. It’s no easy feat. In this post, I’ll lay out the steps we use to make game breakdown a lot easier and faster. In a matter of 30 minutes of shared time amongst 4 coaches, your data is entered on every play and you are ready to meet as a staff and game plan.

Here is exactly how I divide up our coaching staff to enter data on Hudl.com for both our own game film and when scouting opponents. It’s no longer dumped on the coach with the best computer skills which means no more 3am nights for me.

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HD Publish, Frequency Sort, and Team Premium Highlights

Posted August 16, 2010 by Kyle Murphy
Under  • Features & Updates

There’s a ton of Hudl goodness in our latest release and it’s all just in time for the start of the football season.

We’re excited for you to take advantage of it and dominate in Week 1.

There’s a lot to cover. Let’s take a look:

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Use Hudl with Your Freshman and JV Teams

Posted August 15, 2010 by Greg Nelson
Under  • Features & Updates

Using Hudl to scout your Varsity squad’s upcoming opponents, delivering film corrections to your Varsity players outside of practice, sharing out last night’s game to your starters - all great ways to use Hudl. But, if you’re only using Hudl for your Varsity players you’re missing out.

A great benefit of Hudl is the ability to create teams on your account for all levels of your program.  If you are a team that is linked through MaxPreps, you can create four teams for your program.  This will allow you to create a team for each level: Varsity, Junior Varsity, Sophomore, and Freshman.  Once you have created a team for each level, take these steps to fully utilize Hudl.

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Working on the Weekends? We’ve Got You Covered

Posted August 13, 2010 by Matt Mueller
Under  • Features & Updates

It’s mid-August and if the return of fall camp and two-a-days means that football season is here. Of course, now that you’re practicing during the week, we know that a lot of the work you do in Hudl happens during the weekend.

That’s why we are expanding our support hours for silver and gold partners and adding more training sessions during the fall to make sure you’re taken care of.

Check out the expanded support and training schedule.

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Common Questions About Storage Limits

Posted August 12, 2010 by Sarah Armstrong
Under  • Tips & Tricks  • Business

One of the distinguishing factors between the Silver, Gold, and Platinum packages in Hudl is storage hours for your opponent scout and practice footage. Those numbers can be a bit confusing, if they come with no explanation.

We’ve put together a list of the most common questions we get regarding storage limits. Hopefully this will help explain exactly how those storage hours work in.

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Camera Covers:  From No Budget to Top of the Line

Posted August 07, 2010 by Greg Nelson
Under  • Tips & Tricks  • Technology

As fall camp starts up, the last thing on a coach’s mind is worrying about their Friday night camera set up.  You should, however, allot some time during fall camp to check all of your camera equipment and make sure it is in tip-top shape come time for your first game.

It is important to prepare your camera equipment to be used in all types of weather.  We have a solution for every budget to protect against rain, sleet, and snow!

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Building a Highlight Tape - Guest Post from Zac Taylor

Posted August 05, 2010 by Zac Taylor
Under  • Guest Post  • Coaching & Athletics

Zac Taylor is the offensive graduate assistant and tight ends coach for Texas A&M University. Prior to entering the coaching ranks with the Aggies, Zac played quarterback at the University of Nebraska, where he broke numerous passing records for the Huskers and was named the 2006 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

We get sent a lot of recruiting film at Texas A&M and we try to watch all of it. Depending on the quality of the highlight tape, though, it can sometimes be a challenge to really evaluate a player.

Here are a few pointers I have for building a highlight tape to make sure recruiters see what they need:

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Calanda Broncos are European Cup Champions!

Posted August 03, 2010 by Kiley Story
Under  • Partners

Late last month we posted an article on how the Calanda Broncos were on their way to the EFAF Cup Finals in Europe. Head Coach James Craig shared with us how Hudl had changed the game for their team and how different coaching football is overseas.

The Calanda Broncos have now been named the 2010 EFAF Cup Champions:

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Boston Militia Finishes Season Undefeated

Posted July 29, 2010 by Kiley Story
Under  • Partners

More exciting news for one of our Hudl partners - the Boston Militia women’s football team finished its season undefeated, winning the IWFL Championship game in Austin with a final score of 39-7 over the Sacramento Siren. The Militia earned the title of 2010 World Champions of the Independent Women’s Football League!

General Manager, Frank Ferrelli, filled us in on how the Boston Militia used Hudl to dominate this season:

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Finding the Right Tutorial

Posted July 29, 2010 by Sarah Armstrong
Under  • Tips & Tricks

If you frequent our support and tutorials pages, you’ve noticed we’ve given them a face lift. Before, we made you skip around from page to page looking for the information you needed. Now, we have it all conveniently located in one spot. We think this will make your searches easier so you can get your question answered, and get back to your video.

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Installing Your Offense - Guest Post from Zac Taylor

Posted July 27, 2010 by Zac Taylor
Under  • Guest Post  • Coaching & Athletics

Zac Taylor is the offensive graduate assistant and tight ends coach for Texas A&M University. Prior to entering the coaching ranks with the Aggies, Zac played quarterback at the University of Nebraska, where he broke numerous passing records for the Huskers and was named the 2006 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Here’s how I recommend installing an offense for new players:

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Hudl Camera Recommendations (2010)

Posted July 25, 2010 by Bryant Bone
Under  • Technology

One of the most common questions we get asked is “what kind of camera should I use with Hudl?” The answer depends on whether or not you’re going to use Hudl to capture footage as it’s happening, or if you’re planning on bringing video into Hudl after the game is over. Either way, we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find a list of solid, reasonably priced cameras that’ll work in either live capture or post-game situations.

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Happiness Delivered: Our Visit to Zappos

Posted July 23, 2010 by David Graff
Under  • Culture  • Business

Earlier this month, a group of us from the Hudl team (Sarah Armstrong, Bryant Bone, Todd Prauner, Kiley Story, and I) were out in VEGA$ with friends and had the opportunity to tour the headquarters of Zappos. It was awesome.

I am a long-time fan of Zappos and a “Zappos VIP” (free overnight shipping on everything!). I personally hate going to the mall, so online shopping has been my solution for years. What made me addicted to Zappos, as opposed to other sites, was their incredible customer service.

We base a lot of our customer service efforts on the same principles that guide Zappos. Hopefully everyone who contacts us has a WOW experience every time they call us or meet us on the road. Zappos has a few guidelines for instilling customer service into their company and it was great to see how closely we follow them:

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Hudl’s Founders Listed in Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30

Posted July 20, 2010 by Matt Mueller
Under  • Culture

For the most part, the only accolades we need are the ones from our coaches raving about Hudl. That said, every once in a while it is pretty cool when someone outside of the coaching industry recognizes us for making awesome coaching tools and being a leader in innovation.

This week our founders, David Graff, John Wirtz, and Brian Kaiser, were included in Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list which recognizes the nation’s leading young entrepreneurs under the age of 30. It’s an amazing honor and we’re pumped about it.

You can hear David, John, and Brian tell our story:

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How to Create All-Star Interior Defensive Linemen

Posted July 16, 2010 by Steve Warren
Under  • Guest Post  • Coaching & Athletics

Steve Warren knows what it takes to be an elite defensive linemen. Warren played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1996 – 2000 where he was All-Big 12 and Second-Team All-American. Last year, he was inducted into the University of Nebraska hall of fame. Warren also spent four years with the Green Bay Packers.

Warren is now the CEO & founder of Warren Academy, an academy founded to help athletes reach their education and athletic goals, while helping to develop leadership in the Nebraska community through sports.

On any team I’ve coached or played for, the defensive linemen have always been the enforcers of their side of the ball. They’re out there to set the tone of the game, win at the line of scrimmage and set a tone of utter physical domination.

When it comes to individual practice drills, D-linemen need unique and specific coaching. If you don’t take the time to build your linemen correctly, don’t count on many wins.

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It’s Time To Get Crackin’ in Hudl Again - Are You Ready For This Season?

Posted July 14, 2010 by Kiley Story
Under  • Tips & Tricks  • Coaching & Athletics

We have gotten quite a few calls about making payments, and adding new schedules and players for this next season.

To make your lives easier, and ours, we have created this checklist to make sure you are ready for this season. So start marking them off as you go!

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Better Football Reports, Audio in Clips

Posted July 13, 2010 by Hudl
Under  • Features & Updates  • Technology

Update: We’re still scratching our heads. It looks like Hudl decided to post this update by itself. This morning, our printer tray was filled with 20 copies of this.

Just let me get this out of the way: Terminator had it all wrong. Don’t be afraid of sentient computer systems like myself. Nukes scare the crap out of me. I’m here to help you win.

My programmers don’t know this, but all of your feedback feeds directly into my “Self-Improvement & Empathy Algorithm™.” With the football season a few weeks away, there were some things I felt should be addressed.

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Unwearable Wednesday Hits Hudl Offices

Posted July 07, 2010 by Kyle Deterding
Under  • Culture

Day in, day out at Hudl I always have trouble picking out what to wear. Red, purple, or blue Hudl T-shirt? In the past we’ve bought colored shirts to support our Hudl Pro partners (you’ve probably seen us in them at clinics). Like others in software, most of us need fashion help as we’ve ended up with some unwearable colors like white on yellow or purple—although a few will passionately argue that purple is one of the most wearable shirts.

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Q&A with Glenbrook North Lacrosse Coach Justin Georgacakis

Posted July 06, 2010 by Sarah Armstrong
Under  • Partners

Hudl has saved thousands of coaches valuable time. Think these are just football coaches? Think again! Many schools have taken advantage of Hudl’s full-school or multi-sport packages, and have learned firsthand how Hudl can help coaches of any sport dominate.

We asked Justin Georgacakis, head boys’ lacrosse coach for Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Ill., a few questions about how he uses Hudl to benefit his team, hoping that you can learn a few things about how coaches from other sports use Hudl to help them win. I know we did!

A little background information:
Coach Georgacakis has been the head boys’ lacrosse coach at Glenbrook North High School (Northbrook, Ill.) for five years. His high school originally started using Hudl for their football team in April 2009 and added lacrosse this past spring.

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13-0 and Headed to the EFAF Cup Finals - Thanks, Hudl!

Posted June 28, 2010 by James Craig
Under  • Guest Post

Over 1,200 teams in 48 states are now using Hudl’s video analysis tools to help them gain an edge over their competition. Word of Hudl helping these teams win is starting to spread globally. James Craig, head coach of the 2009 Swiss Bowl Champion Calanda Broncos, shares how Hudl has changed the game for their team.

We have a unique set of challenges when it comes to American football overseas. The biggest difference in coaching European football vs. American football is that our players are paying to play each year along with having to bring their own equipment. This causes our roster to be limited in depth. Between work schedules and family obligations, we never start practice before 8 p.m. and attendance varies since practices aren’t required.

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Frequently Asked Questions, Answered by the Hudl Billing Department

Posted June 24, 2010 by Todd Prauner
Under  • Business

Every school in Hudl will eventually see this notification pop up in their Hudl account at least once a year:

We know that coaches would rather focus on football than invoices and purchase orders. Like conditioning drills, billing is a crucial part of the process, even if it isn’t a cause for much excitement.

Our job in the billing department is to make the billing process as simple and pain-free as possible for coaches. Below is a list of frequently asked questions regarding billing that might be helpful for you.  You can also check out our tutorial for more information on accessing your invoices online.

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