Player Development’s METEORIC Growth
The player development role has grown immensely since I started in 2016. In this blog and the corresponding podcast episode we will break down this growth into three areas:
Player development professionals
Player development staffs
Programs without player development
DISCLAIMER: This study is based on division one college football programs as this is where I got my start in the role. I also only counted the professionals in the programs who specifically detailed player development in the titles of those who work for them.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONALS
192% Increase Since 2016
There is a 192% growth in player development professionals in the role since I started in 2016. There were 53 professionals in a player development role when I started, now there are 155 professionals in a player development role.
70 New Player Development Professionals
Of the 155 player development professionals 70 of those in the role were new to the role or new to the programs they served in the role. To better detail this I keep an excel document of player development professionals every year and when a program has someone new the following year, I highlight it.
45% of the professionals in the role are new to the role they are in
21% Increase From 2022
There was a 21% increase in the player development professionals who were in the role for 2023. This number increased from 128 in 2022 to 155 in 2023.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT STAFFS
S/o to anyone or program who has more than one person serving in the player development department. I was never able in my career to lead a full-time staff of player development professionals, so if you are CHERISH IT.
483% Increase Since 2016
As with the enormous growth of professionals in the role, the number of player development staff has skyrocketed as well. There were six staff with more than one person in the role in 2016, now there are 35.
59% Increase from 2022
There was a 59% increase in the player development staff for 2023. This number increased from 22 in 2022 to 35 in 2023.
38% of Programs with Player Development Have a Staff
Out of the 91 programs with player development 38% of them have a player development staff. This number in relation to programs with player development in 2016 was 12%.
PROGRAMS WITHOUT PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
31% Decrease
There has been a 31% decrease of programs without player development since 2016. There were 80 programs without player development in 2016, there are 42 now.
Group of 5 Conferences Observation
Most of the programs without player development are in the Group of 5 Conferences with the most being in the following conferences: Conference USA, Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and the MAC. I am sure these programs are serving their athletes through the student-athlete development position, with that said there is a reality that most of these programs may not have the resources to put someone in place for their football program.
I really hope you enjoyed this blog, my plan every year from here on out is to do this study to continue to show the growth of this position. If you are reading this blog and want to get in a player development role, these numbers show there is a possibility of this happening. As, you look into the role more, I would like to provide value to your journey through my Guide to Player Development Course here: https://edward-s-site-ca17.thinkific.com/courses/player-development-guide
Check out my podcast episode on this topic here: https://youtu.be/Elti4oRbFEU
Listen to The Player Development Pod here: https://linktr.ee/btf_program
Visit: https://www.btfprogram.com/
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