I just came across this article from SI.com. Below are some excerpts:
If you think Bill Belichick bucks convention with his play-calling, meet Kevin Kelley, head football coach of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Ark. Actually, perhaps you’ve met him already.
Kelley has become a cult figure among both football coaches and the sports analytics community for his disregard — contempt even — for traditional football wisdom. He’s been featured in Sports Illustrated. He figured prominently in Scorecasting. He’s been a regular at coaching clinics and at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
For one, Kelley doesn’t believe in punting. His Bruins teams go for it on fourth down, even in the most extreme situations. His playbook is filled with tricks and gimmicks. He often forbids his players to return punts, reckoning that the odds of a fumble outstrip the incremental yards that can be gained from a return. After his team scores, it almost always attempts an onside kick. There are 12 varieties in the playbook — including one in which the ball is placed flat on the ground — and Kelley figures that the chance of recovery outweighs the risk of allowing the opposition to start a drive near midfield.
The funny thing about Kelley: He’s not a mad scientist or an iconoclast, zigging where everyone else is zagging, for the hell of it. Rather, he’s a relentlessly rational sort whose methods have backing in data.
Read the full article here.
