UC Berkeley brings data science to the field with Cal Athletics’ Winning Analytics summit

More than 100 faculty, staff, students, alumni and industry partners gathered at California Memorial Stadium on Feb. 4 for the inaugural Winning Analytics Summit, a daylong exploration of how UC Berkeley’s expertise in data science can transform competitive athletics.

The summit marked a significant milestone for Winning Analytics, a cross-disciplinary initiative that brings together Cal Athletics with data experts from across campus. The goal is ambitious but straightforward: Use Berkeley’s combination of athletic excellence and analytical rigor to reimagine how Cal recruits talent, optimizes performance and engages its community.

“This is quintessential Berkeley,” Chancellor Rich Lyons said at the event. “Berkeley was built for just this sort of multilayered challenge and opportunity that demands multidisciplinary collaboration and comprehensive excellence.”

The initiative comes at a pivotal moment for Cal Athletics. As the home of 30 varsity programs and more than 850 student-athletes, the department carries a storied legacy, including 105 team championships and 332 individual titles. At the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, Cal athletes captured 23 medals — enough to rank 12th overall if they competed as their own country. Maintaining that standard of excellence while supporting the holistic development of its student-athletes requires new approaches and deeper insights.

Over the past several months, Cal Athletics conducted a comprehensive data audit spanning all 30 sports and 20 support units, encompassing hundreds of student-athletes and staff members. The goal was to understand what data the department collects, how it’s collected, where it lives, who manages it and how it informs decisions.

The audit revealed that dozens of technology systems are currently in use across teams and support units, with data largely managed by assistant coaches and athletic performance staff in addition to their primary responsibilities. The audit also identified core challenges: How do we better identify and recruit talent? How do we unlock each athlete’s full potential on and off the field? How do we turn data into timely decisions that impact results? How do we individualize training based on accurate load management? How do we prepare athletes and teams to peak at the right moment?

The summit’s morning session provided an overview of the current landscape of data and analytics in academia, sports and industry, along with findings from Cal Athletics’ data audit. The afternoon shifted to a hackathon-style working session, with attendees forming cross-functional groups to develop potential projects, partnerships, and collaborations.

“From where I sit, alumni engagement is critical to our ability to support Berkeley’s mission,” Lyons said. “Intercollegiate athletics has a significant, beneficial impact on alumni engagement. I can’t wait to see how this initiative will increase what I refer to as ‘mission-advancing return’ on our investment in Cal Athletics.”

Winning Analytics addresses these challenges through the RPE Framework: recruiting, performance, and engagement. Advanced analytics and predictive modeling can sharpen talent identification and retention. Data-driven insights into training, wellness, recovery and workloads can support both athletic and academic success. And data science can strengthen donor relationships, enhance fan experience, and generate new revenue streams.

Co-Athletic Directors Jenny Simon-O’Neill and Jay Larson have championed the initiative as part of their broader commitment to ensuring athletics remains an integral part of Berkeley’s community and mission. The summit also benefited from the generous support of Matt Levin, an alumnus and long-time supporter of Berkeley, whose commitment to Berkeley’s excellence helped make the gathering possible.

What emerged from the day was not just a series of potential projects but a shared recognition of what’s possible when Berkeley’s resources converge on a complex challenge. The combination of elite athletic programs, world-class faculty expertise in data science and analytics, proximity to the tech industry, and a culture that values innovation creates opportunities that few other institutions can match.

Ultimately, coaches need informed data insights at the moment decisions are being made. Achieving this requires continued capture of high-quality data, integrated systems housed in a centralized environment and dedicated interpreters who can translate complexity into clarity for coaches and key stakeholders in a shared language.

The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics employs more than 275 staff members and coaches who work daily to provide one of the top student-athlete experiences in the country. Winning Analytics represents a commitment to supporting that work with the kind of evidence-driven innovation that has always defined Berkeley’s approach to complex challenges.

Now that the summit has concluded, the real work begins — turning the ideas generated there into projects that make a measurable difference for Cal’s student-athletes, coaches and community. If the energy and engagement at the summit are any indication, Berkeley is building something that will set a new standard for how universities think about the intersection of athletics and data science.