Why the Cascade Collegiate Conference is taking its Hudl a step further

When it comes to budgeting as an NAIA school, every dollar counts. And in the Pacific Northwest’s Cascade Collegiate Conference, the difference of thousands of dollars in an athletic budget can be “game-changing”, as commissioner Rob Cashell tells it.

So what, then, prompted the conference to make such a dramatic increase in spending on Hudl packages?

In past years, only member schools with a football affiliation were investing in Hudl. Now, all Cascade soccer and volleyball teams are using Hudl subscriptions with unlimited Assist breakdowns, as well as Hudl’s Recruit search engine. 

For Cashell, the hope is this leads to an even bigger investment over the long-term. That includes the opportunity for schools to upgrade to an Athletic Department package that gives every program in the building the full suite of film breakdown tools.

“That price point, that entry point, was important to us,” he said. “But even moreso from my standpoint is, what are we capable of doing after that entry point? Even if it may take a year or two, or some planning. Is there some space between the entry and the ultimate goal, which in my mind would be the AI cameras.”

The Cascade is unique in a lot of ways. Its core members are a mix of faith-based and public universities across the Northwest. There’s also members from British Columbia. Part-time coaches are aplenty in this conference, and some schools have to rent facilities for games. Creativity isn’t at a premium — it’s imperative for survival.

Giving everyone access to Hudl’s tools, with the flexibility to upgrade as they see fit, is a way to level the playing field and unlock the potential of every member.

In volleyball, for instance, this was the last NAIA conference not using Hudl. Now with that settled, and the option to add Volleymetrics, Cashell sees a group benefit of partnering with a nationally-renowned brand in the space. 

For other sports like basketball and soccer, access to the full suite is about options. Coaches love the supplementary value to work with any other video analysis products they’re using.

Having the bodies available to film games can be a challenge at this level, one of the many values the conference sees in equipping schools with Hudl Focus smart cameras. No, this isn’t replacing the student manager — but it is freeing up their opportunities to get experience with technology skills that may translate better in the future.

“The pricing was fair. We felt like the service was going to be outstanding,” Cashell said. “There’s some upward mobility, if you will. We got in at this level, we now have the opportunity for schools to make a next step, or as a group we can always continue to look at what’s the next step we can take collectively.”