ACS News

West Virginia University Takes Control with ACS InControl

The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has selected ACS Athletics for its department-wide technology needs.  The Mountaineers are in the process of implementing a software solution, ACS InControl^TM, for recruiting, compliance monitoring and student-athlete information management.

“Coaches, administrators and student-athletes were spending too much time filling out paperwork and entering data in multiple systems.  We needed to improve efficiencies with a unified solution for student-athlete, recruiting and compliance information,” said Russ Sharp, Senior Associate Athletic Director at West Virginia University.

With InControl^TM, each of West Virginia’s 17 sport programs will use a very powerful recruiting system, which will allow coaches to maintain accurate electronic records of all prospect information, recruiting activities and correspondence, effectively managing the recruiting process from start to finish.  In addition, use of InControl^TM will eliminate paper-driven processes such as submission of contact, evaluation and telephone logs.  The InControl^TM system then analyzes those activities to ensure compliance with NCAA rules, eliminating the need to spot-check and ensuring 100% monitoring of NCAA Bylaw 13 activities.

Once prospects become enrolled student-athletes, the roster management tools enable the department of intercollegiate athletics to administer required student-athlete forms electronically, greatly reducing the amount of time spent completing such forms and furthering the institution’s efforts to, “go green.”  InControl^TM also eliminates cumbersome processes such as student-athlete verification of daily and weekly hourly limitations (CARA logs), communicating roster changes and administering student-athlete complimentary admissions.

Sharp added, “With ACS, our staff will have immediate access to information that drives the student-athlete life-cycle and will be able to automate communications and processes in one integrated system. We’ve enjoyed working with ACS and have been impressed with their ability to adapt the system to meet our needs.”

ACS Athletics is the only company that provides all of these services in one integrated platform, ACS InControl^TM, allowing coaches, administrators and student-athletes to be more successful.  For more information, please contact ACS Athletics at (800) 343-6220 or sales@acsathletics.com.

Bo Kerin and ACS Athletics host two informational webinars on February 18th and 19th

Race to the Top: If you don’t have a plan, you’re planning to fail…or at least finish last.

It’s 2010, but are you still operating like its 1990? To stay ahead of the competition and control costs, athletic departments must break old cycles of operational inefficiency. Poor information management practice, communication bottlenecks and cumbersome paper-trails stifle coach productivity, increase compliance risks and add additional overhead. This all adds up to create a less than favorable environment and experience for student-athletes. During this webinar series, we will present on how ACS is helping athletic departments execute a plan for transitioning their student-athlete centric operations and information management practices into the 21^st century. Get the ACS Advantage in 2010. Change the game. Get InControl.

Please join, Bo Kerin, ACS Athletics Regional Director of Sales and former intercollegiate athletics administrator, on February 18^th or 19^th for a Webinar demonstration of ACS InControl Baseline, an integrated department-wide technology solution for recruiting, compliance monitoring and student-athlete information management.  You may register for the demonstrations by clicking on the links below.  We look forward to visiting with you!

ACS Athletics Informational Webinar
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time: 10:30 am, Central Standard Time
Register for this time slot at:

https://assistantcoach.webex.com/assistantcoach/j.php?ED=132988422&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiM3

ACS Athletics Informational Webinar
Date: Friday, February 19, 2010
Time: 2:00 pm, Central Standard Time
Register for this time slot at:

https://assistantcoach.webex.com/assistantcoach/j.php?ED=132988527&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiM3

Eastern Michigan University improves operational and recruiting processes with ACS Athletics InControl™ software

ACS Athletics is excited to announce its recent partnership with Eastern Michigan University, which is in the process of implementing ACS InControl™ Baseline, a bundled, pre-configured software package that provides department-wide technology solutions in the areas of recruiting, compliance and student-athlete life-cycle management.  EMU is a member of the Mid-American Conference and provides opportunities for more than 550 student-athletes to compete in 21 sports.

“We are very excited about the ability for our entire senior staff to access a single database of student-athlete and prospect information,” said Melody Reifel Werner, EMU’s associate athletics director for compliance and special projects. “This will reduce duplication of efforts to collect and make use of the information. “  The ACS InControl™ Baseline product suite streamlines the gathering of prospect and student-athlete information, which can now be accessed electronically at any time and by any user with the proper permission.  InControl will also eliminate the paper-driven processes associated with student-athlete forms, practice and participation (CARA) logs, and complimentary ticketing to save coaches, student-athletes, and administrators time, energy and money.

In addition to having real-time information accessible to all stakeholders in one central location, Werner cited the coaches’ ability to improve communications and branding with prospective and current student-athletes through professionally designed email campaigns and text messaging, respectively.  “I think it is great that coaches will be able to send a text message to their entire team and that our academic advisors can reach all of the student-athletes quickly and efficiently through the text messaging capabilities,” Werner said.  ACS InControl™ makes it very easy to access student-athlete contact information and communicate either individually with a student-athlete or send an important email or text message to an entire team(s).  Previously, it could be quite common for different departments on campus to have out-dated student-athlete information.  InControl provides one consistent, accurate source for all student-athlete information.

EMU made the commitment to take a holistic approach to address not only the day-to-day challenges of the athletics department, but also empower its coaches with the most powerful recruiting tools on the market.  During these challenging economic times, institutions are making value-based decisions and finding an economical, innovative solution with ACS Athletics.  InControl allows coaches to manage all recruiting information and implement impressive branding campaigns.  Further, it allows coaches to gauge interest level using email tracking features.  Finally, as recruiting activities are entered into the system, an automatic “log” is created that eliminates the need for coaches to submit paper logs or spreadsheets.  The built-in rules engine then analyzes each activity to ensure compliance with NCAA rules.  “In this high-risk world of athletics compliance, institutions need every tool available to help manage and monitor the athletics program,” Werner said.  With use of the ACS InControl™ Baseline system, the Eagles are already ahead of the curve!

The University of Memphis Chooses ACS Athletics as a Department-Wide Technology Solution

The University of Memphis has partnered with ACS Athletics to implement ACS InControl™, the premier student-athlete management system that provides a holistic solution for athletics department processes, information management and communication.  Memphis will use the Baseline version of ACS InControl to manage recruiting activities for all sports, compliance monitoring, roster management, student-athlete forms, complimentary admissions and playing and practice season hourly log submission.

The University of Memphis athletics department sponsors 20 varsity sports.  The department serves over 400 student-athletes and competes in Conference USA.  With so many moving parts and the desire to maximize efficiency, the department chose to move away from products that provide a solution for only one area and instead approach the challenge from a broader perspective.  In this manner, ACS Athletics will help the athletics department solve multiple challenges, such as managing recruiting and student-athlete records, sending branded email campaigns and automating compliance monitoring, with one holistic solution.

InControl Baseline was released this fall as a bundled product that features a “best practices” build of the system, allowing for a more rapid, easy to adopt training and implementation program. The implementation timeline is typically 30-60 days, allowing customers like the University of Memphis to quickly see a return on their investment through improved operational performance, enhanced recruiting capabilities and increased compliance monitoring.

“We could not be more excited than to have a great program such as the University of Memphis join the growing ACS client family,” said Phillip Engle, President of ACS Athletics.  “The ACS team looks forward to a long and productive relationship, and to consulting and serving the Memphis coaches, support staff and administrators at a very high level.”

The University of Louisiana-Lafayette Revamps Student-Athlete Complimentary Admission Procedures with ACS InControl

In addition to implementing ACS InControl for recruiting efforts and compliance monitoring, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette also uses the product suite to proactively monitor student-athlete complimentary admissions.  In previous years, the process was tedious and time-consuming for both student-athletes and athletics department staff.  Student-athletes were limited to specified time periods for assigning complimentary admissions and athletics department staff spent numerous hours reviewing the lists and making changes on the fly.

“Implementing ACS InControl has allowed us to reduce preparation time for creating complimentary admissions lists drastically,“ said Jessica Clarke, Louisiana’s Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance.  “(Prior to using ACS InControl) approximately ten hours were spent each week prior to game time creating the (football) complimentary admissions list.  (Now), we spend approximately one hour setting up our event list for the entire season, and we only spend about thirty minutes each week printing the final list and reviewing it for accuracy,” Clarke said.

Clarke also indicated that not only does the system assist in more efficient compliance procedures, it provides more flexibility for student-athletes.  “The student-athletes have also benefited as their time can now be spent on academics and athletics, rather than constantly reporting in person to sign for complimentary admissions.  Completing their guest list online has allowed the student-athletes to finish this task when it is convenient for them, rather than when our staff is available during office hours,” Clarke said.

According to Clarke, in addition to increasing efficiency and reducing the burden on the student-athletes, the compliance office now has an additional tool to assist in monitoring the relationships between student-athletes and complimentary admissions recipients.  When adding a new complimentary admission recipient, the student-athlete is required to answer a series of questions to aid the compliance staff in ensuring the student-athlete has not received improper benefits in exchange for the admission.

“Monitoring complimentary admissions lists has always been a challenge, simply as a result of the nature of the process,” Clarke said.  “We now have a streamlined, online system, capable of being accessed 24 hours/day.  The compliance office can spend more time monitoring the relationship of student-athletes to their guests and be more proactive in preventing potential violations after reviewing student-athletes’ answers to questions asked by (the) ACS (system) when requesting complimentary admissions.  Reports can be generated in a matter of seconds indicating our monitoring efforts.”

ACS Athletics releases first eNewsletter

Subscribe to our monthly eNewsletter by clicking here!

ACS eNewsletter - September 2009

ACS Athletics Introduces InControl Baseline

ACS Athletics is proud to introduce InControl “Baseline”, the bundled version of the InControl product suite for improving performance within collegiate athletic departments. InControl Baseline is a pre-packaged offering that includes a full range of core modules for servicing the key areas and operations that drive the student-athlete lifecycle. The primary areas covered by the system are recruiting, compliance, student-athlete management, playing and practice season verification, complimentary admissions, and more.

The goals behind this initiative are to standardize our base offering, and to provide institutions at all levels access to a comprehensive InControl System. Athletic departments adopt InControl to reduce costs and to automate processes that align coaches’ operational objectives with compliance and business objectives. InControl increases efficiency, improves support for coaches and strengthens services that have a positive impact on student-athlete welfare.

As a bundled package, InControl Baseline is configured using best practices and is a cost-effective option for athletic departments. Due to the prebuilt and streamlined nature of the product, ACS Athletics is able to offer InControl Baseline at up to a 70% cost savings compared to a highly customized version of the system. This will allow all sizes and types of athletic departments to stay on the cutting edge of recruiting efforts, centralize information related to the student-athlete life-cycle, operate more efficiently and reduce compliance risk.

The Baseline version of InControl offers users powerful capabilities for online automation of student-athlete database information, branded email correspondence, compliance monitoring, roster management, student-athlete forms, complimentary admissions, playing and practice season verification, text-messaging to current athletes and storage of scanned documents. By centralizing information and processes in one system, the athletic department can increase productivity and oversight with a holistic view of operations.

“ACS Athletics is committed to serving collegiate athletic departments at all levels. We recognize athletic departments face the same types operational and performance challenges, but all have varying budgets and comfort levels with technology adoption,” said Phillip Engle, President, ACS Athletics. “As a bundled offering, InControl Baseline allows our company to provide all customers a comprehensive support and software package at a very competitive price. Baseline is a great starting place for all departments, and offers a clear and well defined upgrade path to additional InControl modules and custom enhancements.”

For more information on how ACS Athletics can help athletic departments improve performance, visit http://www.acsathletics.com.

ACS Athletics
Phone: 512-343-8811×302

Bo Kerin Joins the ACS Team!

Bo Kerin, who has spent the last two years as the Associate Athletics Director for Compliance at Louisiana State University, will join the ACS team as Regional Director of Sales on September 14, 2009. Kerin will oversee the development of new business in the southeast region, provide input on product functionality and updates, and create educational and promotional materials.

While overseeing compliance efforts at LSU, Kerin was instrumental in implementing the recruiting and compliance features of the ACS InControl suite and has an extensive knowledge of the product. He has experienced first-hand the details that go into purchasing, implementing and supporting software solutions within a collegiate athletic department.

Prior to his tenure at LSU, Kerin served on the Academic and Membership Affairs staff at the NCAA national office from 2001-2007. In this role, he assisted NCAA Division I institutions while completing the athletics certification process and conducted compliance reviews involving on-site campus visits and evaluation of institutional compliance programs. In addition, he provided oversight for training and education programs for the Academic and Membership Affairs staff and worked extensively in the legislative and interpretive areas. Prior to his service at the NCAA, he held the position of compliance coordinator at Mississippi State University from 1998-2001.

“ACS Athletics is extremely excited with the addition of Bo Kerin to our team,” said Phillip Engle, CEO. “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Bo as a customer and advisor, and his input to the ACS team will have a profound impact on our business and attention to customers’ needs.”

Kerin graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1996 with a degree in Business Administration and in 2000, he completed a master’s degree from the College of Education at Mississippi State University. He is married to the former Leslie Moree of Starkville, Mississippi.

ACS Athletics to Attend the NACWAA National Convention

ACS Athletics is excited to attend the upcoming National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators! We hope you can also join us at the conference being held October 11-13, 2009 at the Omni Interlocken Resort and Spa just outside of Denver, Colorado.

ACS Athletics will host an exhibit booth to discuss our latest bundled service package to address the administrative challenges in the areas of student-athlete information management, student-athlete forms, compliance monitoring, recruiting, complimentary ticketing, practice logs, and much more. Please find us at the conference to learn how a growing number of athletic departments are empowering their staff with automated solutions to save time and increase performance!

College Athletic Business Management Association Enters Partnership with ACS Athletics

The College Athletic Business Management Association (CABMA) Executive Committee has announced a partnership with ACS Athletics to host the CABMA Connection, a message board system designed for sharing information, announcements, and other important events with its membership. This system has been designed as a tool that will facilitate the dissemination of information in a manner that allows members to control how they receive updates, and that also allows for the archival and future access to this information.

There are a number of benefits CABMA members will see with the new system:

•Members will continue being able to post questions and answers on topics important to their everyday business.
•Members will be able to subscribe to the forums they are interested in, and set their preference for how they want to be notified of updates.
•Questions and answers are posted as separate topics, and archived by the system for future viewing.
•Message board is organized in a manner that allows for easy navigation to information members are seeking.
•Convention presentations and CABMA publications will be posted and archived for future access.
•Member lists and contact information will be available within the system.

The CABMA Connection will be launched on May 1st, and be available only to current CABMA members. The old listserv will be phased out.

‘We are excited to partner with ACS Athletics,’ said CABMA President Clayton Hamilton, associate athletics directors/business operations at the University of Colorado. ‘We have been looking for opportunities to improve the way our members communicate and share information, which is critical in each of our daily activities. The CABMA Connection provides members with the means to control how they receive updates, while at the same time archiving information for future access.’

About ACS Athletics: ACS is a leading technology company developing products currently benefiting more than 70 intercollegiate athletic departments across the county. ACS Athletics will be on site at our convention in June, to share more information on this system and other products available to our members. You can visit ACS Athletics website at www.acsathletics.com.

About CABMA: CABMA is an organization devoted to the establishment, maintenance and implementation of the highest standards of integrity and efficiency in the scope, policies and procedures involved in the management and administration of business in the athletics departments and associations of colleges and universities. For more information about CABMA, please visit www.cabma.com. CABMA is administered by the National Assoc-iation of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 44th year. For more information on NACDA and the 11 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.