American University basketball built a lean video operation that covers scouting, game prep, and player film without missing a beat.
American University basketball runs a lean staff. Four or five coaches, one video coordinator, a handful of managers, and a video operation that other programs around the country point to as a model.
The Eagles don’t boast a massive team of analysts or cutting-edge infrastructure. They’re held in high regard because they’ve developed a system that enables a small staff to cover a lot of ground.
Isaiah Tate, assistant coach, and Sammy Schulman, video, scouting and analytics coordinator, broke down how they've built it out, and what they'd tell other mid-major programs trying to do the same.
Everyone's in the Film Room
At American, film isn't just the video coordinator's job. All the coaches are actively pulling and showing film, each with their own lane.
"We got a coach that might be showing a lot of the other team's defense based on our offense," Tate said. "We got a coach that is doing our defensive stuff going into games. And then myself, I do a little bit of both — ATOs, special situations, BLOBs."
Schulman owns the analytics side: tagging practices in Hudl Sportscode, building output windows, and then working with Tate to figure out how to bring valuable insights to film sessions.
"If I bring a number to [Isaiah], how can he incorporate that in our film sessions in a way that's actually going to be useful to our guys?" Schulman said. "That's the connection."
Hudl Focus Is the Backbone
Every practice and every game gets recorded with their Hudl Focus camera. Managers use the remote control function through the iPad during live sessions. Schulman handles scheduled recordings. And when it's game time, they're live coding through the capture window so coaches have possession-broken film ready the moment the final buzzer sounds.
"That feed of the game is a lot nicer because it has possessions broken out right when the game's over," Schulman said. "Coaches can look at it without all the stuff that isn't actual basketball."
Tate pulls game film directly from the Focus camera when building his post-game recaps and defensive rebounding breakdowns. Practice goes straight to the team library, where coaches can download what they need and save storage space in the process.
When they moved into a new practice facility without the Focus setup, they kept things moving by pulling camera feeds into the capture window via IP address. It's a workaround, but it kept their workflow intact.
"It's just been a much more complicated video flow state when we don't have it," Schulman said. "Having that ability was definitely big for us."
"That feed of the game is a lot nicer because it has possessions broken out right when the game's over. Coaches can look at it without all the stuff that isn't actual basketball."
Sammy Schulman - Video, Scouting and Analytics Coordinator, American University
Scouting Prep: Everyone Has a System
Each coach on the American staff approaches opponent prep a little differently by design.
The head coach pulls four or five games from the competition database and builds his own sorters. The defensive and offensive coaches do the same. Tate exports folders of ATOs, turnovers, and individual shot tendencies (20-30 shots per player) from external sources. Then he brings each folder into Hudl as a package, then edits within the package to build sorters and playlists.
"It's pretty efficient, pretty streamlined," Tate said. "That's how I build out what I end up showing our guys and what ends up going on Hudl for them to watch."
Schulman takes a different approach. He leans on a code window their Hudl rep helped him build — one that, given games from the competition database, automatically pulls shots and turnovers for specific players.
"It's useful to not have to go through the trouble of going on Instat and doing all that searching," Schulman said. "It automatically comes in from the tagged game."
Getting Film to Players Without Losing Them
American doesn't just upload film and hope players watch it. They're intentional about how they deliver it.
For group film, coaches will post a playlist, say, 10 clips of ball screen defense, push it to the team chat and ask for feedback. Players are encouraged to discuss, not just consume. For individual work, players get five or six targeted clips with instance notes, animations, circles, and arrows already drawn up.
"It's not just 'hey, go watch practice,'" Tate said. "We walk through every step of what we wanted to show them on every clip. Sometimes that helps cut down the amount of clips we're showing — which cuts down screen time."
The viewing activity feature tells coaches whether players actually engaged with what was posted, and whether they watched on phone or computer. That feedback loop matters when you're trying to find the right balance between too much film and not enough.
"You don't want to lose people with a big ask every night," Tate added.
Players who want to go deeper can pull full game film, with the dead time cut, compressed, and uploaded by the staff — right from the Hudl app.
What They'd Tell Other Mid-Majors
American has been doing this without a large staff. Their advice reflects that reality.
For Tate, it comes down to trusting the platform to carry some of the load.
"Being able to efficiently utilize the platform to help you have hands in places where you don't always have hands, that's the point," he said. "Just being able to lightly pepper every part of the program that you feel is important from a video standpoint."
Schulman's advice is simpler: stay curious, and don't go at it alone.
The code windows Schulman has built with Hudl's support team are now effectively an extension of a one-person operation. Tagging practices, generating output windows, tying clips to data so he can show a coach what a number looks like on the floor.
"It sometimes feels like a one-man operation," he said. "Having code windows that are almost like an extension of me has been very helpful."
For programs running a tight staff and trying to build something sustainable, American University's workflow is worth studying. They're not doing it with more people. They're doing it with a platform they've actually invested in learning, and a support team they're not afraid to call.
Learn more about Hudl’s solutions for college basketball programs.
