For Drew Evenson, it started with a green button, a line of code that turned a stat into an instant read. That moment built a career.
Drew Evenson can pinpoint the exact moment that shifted his perspective on his work.
It was when he was working through an assignment as part of the Grow the Game film and analytics cohort. The ask was simple — give the coaches the numbers from the box score. But that assignment showed him something small that cracked everything open: how to highlight a button green when a player was shooting above 40% from three.
"That's when my mind started turning on how much more advanced I could get it," Evenson said. “A green button meant a coach could read a player's night at a glance. And if he could do that, what else could he surface?”
Today, Evenson is the Director of Scouting Analytics at Minnesota under head coach Niko Medved. After starting as a student manager for the Golden Gophers, Evenson grew into a full-time role.
The Foundation
The most important skill Evenson learned with his cohort was scripting — the coding language inside Hudl Sportscode that turns raw tags into live, readable data. It's essentially like learning another language, but Evenson leaned on the Hudl reps in the cohort to get steered in the right direction.
That initial knowledge became the bedrock of what Evenson does now.
"I still go back to those same projects I did during the cohort as the fundamental bare bones of my scripting. Being able to look back on projects I did almost four years ago shows how helpful that cohort can be."
Drew Evenson, Director of Scouting Analytics, University of Minnesota Men's Basketball
From that base, Evenson built outward. He went from a simple box score to full set analysis, where he can break down every cut within a horns set to see exactly where and how Minnesota is scoring.
"Film does one thing, but having the numbers to back it up is exponentially better for understanding your offense," Evenson said.
Not Just Video Guys
Evenson is more than just a video guy. He’s a problem solver, constantly trying to figure out how he can make his work more efficient. He keeps practice and recruit breakdowns as code windows on his desktop for instant access, exports data into Google Sheets to build larger databases, and uses Fastmodel and Instat to pull clips on a player the moment a coach asks.
"If I can get my job done quicker and more efficiently, it benefits the whole staff," Evenson said.
His goal this season is to make the Hudl and Fastmodel library work seamlessly together — and to refine his output windows so they're easier to read and share.
Growing the Game Together
One of the most valuable things Evenson got out of the cohort wasn't a skill, but a friend.
He met James Pollard — now an assistant coach and video coordinator at Northern Iowa — in a Grow the Game cohort years ago. They still text regularly, trading ideas and bouncing problems off each other.
"The relationships you build in the cohort last forever," Evenson said.
His advice to managers coming up is to network sideways, not just upward:
"Everyone wants to network with people in the jobs they want. But networking with peers offers immense growth,” Evenson said. Those relationships are the most valuable because they understand where you came from."
It's fitting advice from someone who followed a well-worn path. Medved started as a student manager. So did Dallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May.
"The opportunities for growth in this industry are endless," Evenson said.
Drew Evenson is a graduate of the Grow the Game film and analytics cohort, run in partnership with Hudl.
