The Third Epoch

A look ahead to Hokie Analytics in 2024

I started Hokie Analytics on something between a lark and a whim. My sense was that there was an audience out there in Hokie Nation for an analytics driven newsletter focusing, year-round, solely on football, but I only gave it about a day’s worth of thought before diving in.

For about a year, I published one to two articles per week while experimenting with content, article length, analytics tools, and visuals.

From all the number crunching, I was pretty confident that Tech would field a much improved team in Brent Pry’s second year. I wanted to up the newsletter’s game too.

So, for the second iteration, I made a number of upgrades, launched the podcast, and increased the content volume.

By the end of the season, I felt like I had taken the initial model about as far as I could.

Enter, the third era, or epoch, if we’re being fancy.

What’s to come in 2024

I mentioned in Sunday’s audit article that I published more than 93,000 (print article) words last year.

For the first eight months of 2023, all content was free. In September I launched a paid tier.

During the course of the season, the regular cadence was three free posts for every one paid post. Moving forward, the reverse will be true. The podcast will remain open to everyone and I will publish between two and four free articles each month.

All of the other content will require a paid subscription. And speaking of content, there will be changes there, too.

As you can see on the website, there are now more sections in the header pane:

• Commerce - everything money related; from NIL and the evolving forms of player compensation to coaching salaries, facility upgrades, and the team’s impact on the local economy

• Front Office - roster management is more complex than ever, with high school and community college (juco) recruiting, the transfer portal, and academics all relevant to the product that Tech puts on the field each year

• Games - detailed statistical analyses of Virginia Tech games

• History - past isn’t always prologue, but it is sometimes, and Virginia Tech has a rich, if not widely known, history when it comes to football

• Legal - analysis of relevant federal, state, and local legislation, as well as legal cases with the potential to impact the program

• Markets - competition for players, coaches, support staff, and even teams (in the case of conferences), in addition to an increased focus on betting markets

• Models - their design, specs, training protocol, testing and actual results

• News - updates about the newsletter and website

• Players - breakdowns of player performance, both individually and in tandem, such as the defensive line

• Podcast - all topics covered by Hokie Analytics are fair game for the podcast; some weeks it will be collections of statistical nuggets, others it will be deep dives into lawsuits or pending legislation, or trends I found hiding in the data that no one else is talking about

Other things to keep an eye out for

Here are a few other tweaks I’m making around the edges:

• More, but shorter posts - 1,200 words is too long for an average article; moving forward, most articles will be in the 600-800 word range, with only deep dive pieces going beyond that

• Punchier writing and formatting - the goal is to convey complicated information in as straight forward, and entertaining, a manner as possible

• Datawrapper visualizations - after much experimentation, this tool works best in Substack posts when the charts are inserted as images with a background; embedding is a crapshoot - when it works, it’s great, but too often something goes haywire, especially when emailed

• New data sources - I’m not ready to make any announcements, but I am eying one dataset in particular that is equal parts awesome and expensive

My commitment to everyone is to publish content that you won’t find anywhere else. In fact, I go out of my way to consume as much of what everyone else is publishing as I can in order to ensure that I provide Hokie Analytics readers with a truly unique and valuable product.

After all, if you can get the information somewhere else, you might as well just do that.

Help spread the word

As President John F. Kennedy so famously (almost) said:

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your newsletter can do for you — ask what you can do for your newsletter.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what Hokie Analytics will do for you — but what together we can do to grow man’s appreciation of college football analytics.

With that in mind, I ask for your help in spreading the word on the newsletter, which is currently read in 22 states.

By pooling our collective social circles, I have no doubt we can get this number to at least 40, if not all 50, states.

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A special invitation to free subscribers

As we venture into an exciting new era for Hokie Analytics, I'm thrilled to extend a warm invitation to all free subscribers to explore the enriched experience of the paid tier. This isn't just about accessing more content - it's about diving deeper into the world of Virginia Tech football analytics, engaging with a community that shares your passion, and discovering insights you won't find anywhere else.

My commitment to delivering unparalleled analysis remains steadfast, and the paid tier amplifies this by offering exclusive articles, in-depth analyses, and special features designed to enhance your appreciation and understanding of the team.

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Every subscription not only unlocks a treasure trove of content for you, but also directly supports the sustainability and growth of Hokie Analytics. It's through your engagement and support that I can continue to push boundaries and deliver content that makes a difference.