Cats Stats was created at Davidson College in 2013 by four members of the Class of 2014 and mathematics professor Dr. Tim Chartier. They began offering advanced analytics to the Davidson College Men’s Basketball team on a trial-basis, attempting to help the coaching staff and revealing insights through mathematical analysis. By the end of the first season and through much trial and error, the coaching staff realized that the work being done was not only helpful, but indispensable and asked the group to continue the following season. Since the members of the group were graduating, a new group of analysts were brought in and Cats Stats began to grow.

Since 2013, Cats Stats has continued to develop and offer new analytics each year, expanding outside men’s basketball. The group has also grown with approximately 50 students working in Cats Stats during the 2021-22 academic year. Cats Stats now works in the following campus sports:

• men’s basketball
• women’s basketball
• football
• men’s soccer
• baseball
• lacrosse

Stemming from their success with the college teams, Cats Stats has worked on projects with professional teams in the NBA, NFL, and NASCAR. They have also fielded media inquiries from national media outlets like ESPN and The New York Times. Alumni of Cats Stats are now working as analysts for NBA and NFL teams across the country, and the work of the group has garnered national media attention.

In 2021 Dr. Tim Chartier made the decision to transition ‘Cats Stats from his research group into a student-run organization. That transition was led by 5 students (Morgan Martin, Drew Beamer, John Mason, Josh Tripp, and Chris Panko) who united to set a new standard for ‘Cats Stats. Today those members continue to transition ‘Cats Stats into the new standard along with the organization’s other leaders and its three advisors (Dr. Tim Chartier, Chris Clunie, and Kevin Cook).

The Team

Staff Members

• Dr. Tim Chartier (Academic Advisor)- Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. Dr. Chartier is well known for his mathematical modeling of the NCAA March Madness tournament (more information here). He collaborates with a variety of sports and data companies and has aided professional teams in the NBA, NFL, and NASCAR. He has served as a resource for a variety of media inquiries, including appearances with Bloomberg TV, NPR, the CBS Evening News, USA Today, and The New York Times. He was the first chair of the Advisory Council for the National Museum of Mathematics and worked with Google and Pixar on their K-12 educational initiatives. Dr. Chartier continues to recruit new members of Cats Stats and to create consistency from season to season.
• Chris Clunie (Athletic Advisor) – Director of Athletics, and a former Wildcats basketball player from the class of ’06. Chris Clunie is well known in the world of basketball. Before becoming the athletic director at Davidson and Cats Stats’ athletic advisor, he worked in various roles for the San Antonio Spurs and even as the NBA’s director for international basketball operations. In this role, he led the operations of events such as NBA All-Star Weekend and the NBA Draft Combine. Today he serves as the Athletic Director for Davidson Athletics and advises the members of Cats Stats specifically with their relationship with Davidson Athletics.
• Kevin Cook (Business Advisor) – Coordinator of Student Engagement at the Hurt Hub, Director of Gift Planning, and a form Wildcats wrestler from the class of ’09. Kevin Cook is known for many things, but for Cats Stats he is a Business Advisor. He advises and assists the members of Cats Stats with securing research partners, planning outreach initiatives, connecting with alumni, and designing a plan to reach their dream careers in the world of sports.

Cats Stats Student Leadership
Student leadership plays an instrumental role in Cats Stats’ success. The students below play important roles from directing students in their associated sports (listed below) to aiding professional sports and companies in research questions in sports analytics.

Organizational

• Morgan Martin ’23 – President, Placement Board Member
• Drew Beamer ’24 – Vice President, Placement Board Member
• Sohan Gade ’23 – Treasurer
• Chris Panko ’23 – Placement Board Member
• John Mason ’24 – Placement Board Member
• Josh Tripp ’24 – Placement Board Member

Men’s Basketball

• Morgan Martin ’23 –  Scouting Operations Manager Co-Chair
• Dom Mendelsohn ’24 – Scouting Operations Manager Co-Chair
• Josh Tripp ’24 –  Player Scouting Chair
• Jack Curtain ’23 – Team Scouting Chair
• John Mason ’24 – Internal Analytic Chair
• Genna Barge ’24 – Defensive Shots Chart Chair
• Ben Laumakis ’24 – Offensive Shots Chart Chair

Baseball

• Josh Tripp ’23 – Scouting Operations Manager
• Ben Rosenthal ’24 – Pitching Scouting Chair
• AJ Pabst ’23 – Batting Scouting Chair

Lacrosse

• Jaden Pask ’23 – Scouting Operations Manager

Football

• Chris Panko ’23 – Scouting Operations Manager
• Jaden Pask ’23 – Team Scouting
• Jayden Waddell ’23 – Defensive Passing Chart Chair
• Luca Dellosa ’23 – Defensive Rushing Chart Chair
• Trey Noe ’23 – Post-Game Charting Chair
• Jack Turner ’23 – Internal Analysis Chair

Men’s Soccer 

• Will Hopkins ’23 – Scouting Operations Manager
• Aidan Keeley-Cain ’23 – Defensive Scouting Chair
• Davin Lim ’23 – Offensive Scouting Chair

Women’s Basketball

• Jordan Krouse ’23 – Scouting Operations Manager
• Tommy Smith ’23 – Player Scouting Chair
• Eric Schoellner ’24 – Team Scouting Chair
• Abby Pompeo ’25 – Live Coding Chair

Engagement 

• Cole Vulpis ’24 – Engagement Operations Manager
• Drew Beamer ’24 – Creative & Marketing Chair
• Allie Hay ’24 – Events Chair

Data Engineering

• Drew Beamer ’24 – Data Engineering Manager
• Alex Martin ’23 – Scraping Chair

 

Interested in knowing more? Contact a member of the student leadership team or catsstats2013@gmail.com.