First woman completing sport analytics degree at Syracuse U

Bailie Brown doesn't consider herself a trailblazer, and yet in a way she is — and so is her school.

Brown will graduate this month from Syracuse University’s Falk College with a Bachelor of Science degree in sport analytics, becoming the first woman to complete the four-year undergraduate program since its inception five years ago. Her 23 classmates are men.

“It’s definitely an honor," Brown said. "I think that there’s a little bit of pressure that goes along with that. I think I feel like I need to be successful.”

Syracuse University and California Baptist University in Los Angeles began offering a four-year undergraduate course of study in sports analytics in 2016. Brown chose Syracuse after discovering the program by chance.

“I was just kind of searching for different opportunities and ran across this one and knew immediately it was exactly where I wanted to go. There wasn’t any question," said Brown, who was salutatorian of her high school class back home in Florence, South Carolina. "I’ve always loved sports, baseball in particular, and math in high school was fun for me, for some reason, so it was kind of a no-brainer to put the two together."

The opportunity at Syracuse was there, thanks in large part to the efforts of professors Michael Veley, founding director of the university’s sport management program, and Rodney Paul, director of the sport analytics program. Falk College’s 275 applications for the incoming class in August are the most for the program, up more than 11% from 2020, and 31 are women, more than triple last year's total of 10.

Brown is in a good place at a seemingly opportune time. Women are gaining traction in management positions at the top echelons of professional sports, opening more doors for others to follow into a realm that's been...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/First-woman-completing-sport-analytics-degree-at-16156807.php