🧠 Meet the New Scout: AI

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After looking at a few things, it feels like we’re entering another Moneyball era, and the money grab by sports-based companies is going to be bigger than ever.

AI is starting to shape how teams scout, draft, and develop talent. Hudl’s new “IQ” platform tags formations and blitzes automatically. Arizona hired a campus AI officer to explore how it can improve operations. And schools like Nebraska are experimenting with AI “agents” that surface information about recruits in real time.

The tools are coming fast, but if everyone’s using the same software, built on the same data, where exactly does the advantage come from?

Hint: It’s not telling the AI ‘Can you find the next Lawrence Taylor for me?’.

Let’s hit the ad and get into it.

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What human thought adds

If AI can process every stat, clip, and game situation, what’s left for human thought to add?

Maybe judgment. Maybe timing. Maybe restraint.

That’s what Daryl Morey has tried to build his career on: treating data and AI as a voice in the room, not the only one.

Still, for all his success, he hasn’t broken through.

Meanwhile, Brad Stevens went from Butler to Boston, from college coach to president of basketball operations of the Celtics — and built a championship team. Both use analytics. Both will use AI, but the organizations they work for are built completely differently. The Celtics are the brick house of the NBA. The 76ers are…not.

One is a team, and one is a roster.

Now you’re getting the hint.

How college programs are using AI

Nebraska’s staff compares their AI experiment to steering a sailboat — constantly adjusting to see where it breaks. For a Power Five program, AI helps narrow a huge pool of athletes into a shortlist worth pursuing. For smaller schools, it’s the opposite: expanding the search to find players who slipped through.

The same tool can do both, depending on how you point it.

Arizona’s athletic director, Lisa Reed-Francois, said AI has already helped find “hidden incremental dollars” in existing revenue streams. The school isn’t using it on the field yet, but they see potential — not just in recruiting, but in improving the business side of college sports.

That’s an early signal of what’s next. This is beginning of how AI will influence how programs plan rosters, manage NIL budgets, and forecast stability.

Lessons from the pros

NFL front offices use AI to simulate draft-night chaos — millions of possible outcomes to anticipate who might trade or reach.

European clubs are training “agent-based” scouting models that project how players will behave within a specific system, not just what their stats say.

AI is now modeling what scouts can’t watch fast enough. Scouting summaries, player comparables, roster reports. You know, the things that used to take analysts a week.

So, the edge here is in speed and clarity, and this is a big theme of AI will help bad organizations (keep reading).

Recruiting and communication

Another quiet frontier is AI-driven recruiting.

Some programs are starting to use predictive models to time outreach, tailor communication tone, and measure commitment probability.

That’s where AI becomes connective tissue — syncing what the athletic department sees, what the coaching staff feels, and what recruits hear.

For the first time, recruiting strategy, roster planning, and donor strategy might all run through the same digital logic. In theory, this should help the organization setting out its vision from top to bottom in a coherent way (more this; keep reading, we’re telling you).

The myth of “democratization”

European analysts talk about AI “leveling the playing field.” David Sumpter from Twelve Football says even lower-division clubs can now use analytics tools once reserved for elite teams. The theory may be true, but access DOES NOT equal advantage in practice.

Better software will not change who makes the decisions, how they think, or what incentives they face.

Everyone could have the same dashboards, but don’t tell us that the Pittsburgh Pirates will start beating the LA Dodgers in a playoff series suddenly.

What the best organizations will do

AI won’t replace decision-makers; it’ll expose whether they have a process worth scaling.
The teams that use it best will use it to:

• Align how ownership, coaching, and scouting define success

• Create a shared language for decision-making

• Keep emotion and bias in check when evaluating talent

Used well, AI is going to bring structure and help craft a vision for an organization.

Used poorly, and you’ll get the Tennessee Titans.

Have a great week!