Feb 19, 2021
As Mike Forde built out a sports performance company—consulting for championship-seeking teams like the NBA’s Spurs; the NFL’s Falcons, Rams and 49ers; along with Olympians and Tour de France winners, and serving as an exec at Chelsea FC—he developed a research arm. The goal: to examine hiring trends in various sports in order to better advise the executives and coaches they consult for.
Sportsology is what Forde calls it.
He mentioned this on a separate call, for another story, as another NFL hiring cycle began to take shape starting with a rash of firings late into last season, four taking place before the calendar turned to December. His research arm reached back out after seven franchises decided on new leadership, and after their team had analyzed the data. It highlighted how little teams broke from recent trends—and how much the next batch of owners starting in new directions should consider both diversity in thinking and diversity overall.