An Eye for Detail

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Chase Driscoll is absolutely pumped up. For four years, Driscoll served at his alma mater North Florida and under his father, Matthew Driscoll, as assistant coach and director of operations. Matthew Driscoll is both the UNF and Atlantic Sun Conference all-time winningest coach with 248 victories.

Matthew also coached alongside another coach at Baylor between 2003 and 2009. His name? Jerome Tang. A friendship and connection were forged under the watch of Baylor head coach Scott Drew as the Bears went from the worst to one of the best in the Big 12 Conference.

So, when Tang sought a talented addition to the Kansas State staff in May, he didn't have to search too long. Tang knew the quality of character of Chase and hired him on May 15 as Director of Video and Analytics, which is a crucial position for a coaching staff in this ultra-competitive sport.

"I'm fascinated by analytics and the technology that allows us to have analytics," Driscoll says. "Analytics can make or break a game for you."

It's been quite a ride for Driscoll. From being a walk-on at UNF to cutting his teeth as a graduate assistant at Oral Roberts under current Wichita State head coach Paul Mills, to spending one year as an assistant coach and developmental head coach at Webber International, to rejoining UNF, Driscoll has gained valuable experience and brings his expertise to the Wildcats.

K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen spoke with Chase Driscoll about his role at K-State and his journey to the Little Apple:

D. Scott Fritchen: Congrats on being hired as K-State's Director of Video and Analytics.

Chase Driscoll: Thanks. Right now, I'm in the office. I've been in Manhattan since last Monday. This actually isn't my first time in Manhattan. Funny enough, the first time I was here was back in 2020-21. In December, we had a game get canceled because of COVID. It was my first year at UNF, Kansas State picked us up for a game, we flew all the way out here, got to the hotel, had dinner, went to bed, and the next morning we all woke up at 6 a.m. and had a coaches meeting and all of our kids had COVID, so we had to fly back home that day. We never got to play Kansas State. Those two COVID years were a blur for everybody.

Fritchen: How excited are you for this opportunity?

Driscoll: I'm absolutely pumped up. I couldn't be happier for this. This is something I've been working at for a long time, and this is an opportunity I'd applied for in the past. I think God had a hand with having an established relationship with Coach Tang. I know it means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to him. It just means that much more. Coach Tang is a man of God, number one, and he is humble, and he has a phenomenal work ethic, and he really pours into the players and coaches and managers, really everybody involved in the program. He's going to pour into you.

Fritchen: What is a detailed description of what your daily operation will entail?

Driscoll: That's what I'm learning every day. A majority will be cutting up film, whether it be a practice or a game, and now in the springtime there's a lot of film preparation that goes into looking at recruits and making videos for kids coming on visits, and we'll have a staff retreat and a player retreat, so we'll throw in a few non-basketball related videos into the mix. It's about making sure Coach has everything he needs from a film and analytic standpoint. I'll help coaches with their scouts and do breakdowns and try to make sure we're prepared every day in practice. Then once you get into the season that we're prepared for every game.

Fritchen: Coach Tang, in introducing you as Director of Video and Analytics, emphasized your eye for detail. That's a gift not everybody has in this world. Describe your eye for detail and how you developed that skill?

Driscoll: I think that has a lot to do with the way I've been brought up. My dad did a great job with me, and he's known as someone with an eye for detail and being organized and putting things together and being prepared. Detail goes into that, being organized in a way that you're always going to be prepared for any question and be able to spit something out at a second's notice.

Fritchen: Analytics have grown in popularity and in importance over the years. How have you seen analytics impact college basketball?

Driscoll: Over the years it's evolved. There's a lot of feel in sports, and there's also a lot of analytics, which goes deeper and deeper every year. Twenty years ago, we didn't have technology to track players' shooting in practice. Now you can see where exactly they're hitting it on the rim when they miss and the exact point where the ball is going through the hoop. Even in baseball you can see the velocity and spin rate and X and Y of where the ball goes across the plate. Analytics across the board evolves every year. As we become more technology-driven, it's going to continue to develop. I'm fascinated by analytics and the technology that allows us to have analytics. Analytics can make or break a game for you. You can do breakdowns to be as specific as, "The team is down by two points and there's 10 seconds left on the clock. Ninety percent of the time they're going to do this." Or, "The team is down by two points with four seconds left on the clock. Ninety percent of the time, they're going to do X, Y, Z." Just being able to have all these options available that you can narrow down a situation and know the probability of things happening in that situation. That fascinates me.

Fritchen: When was your first point of contact with Coach Tang regarding this position?

Driscoll: Coach Tang knew that I'd been looking. I had feelers out, and Coach just called me, and I knew they had an opening, but it wasn't a formal application or anything like that. Just in talking with him, I was able to get my foot in the door and instill confidence in Coach that I was right for the job.

Fritchen: What was your first order of business for you in Manhattan?

Driscoll: First order of business was getting to know the staff. We had a staff meeting that first day, and I introduced myself and got to know the people I'll be going to battle with and just tried to get caught up with things going on. It's so hectic. Just trying to see where we're at right now. The spring is coming to an end, and we'll start prepping for what we have this summer.

Fritchen: Obviously, basketball is in your blood. I'm just curious exactly when you first become interested in basketball?

Driscoll: I started playing at a young age, and I knew I wasn't going to be an NBA player early, but I thought I'd have a shot to play Division II or low Division I. Then in the eighth grade I got hit by a car. I'm left-handed. I shattered my elbow, got thrown into three lanes of traffic, and fractured my humorous, had two elbow surgeries and my arm didn't heal right so I can't straighten my left arm. That pretty much messed up my shot. From that point on, I knew playing was going to be short and sweet, so I started to focus on the coaching side of things. I always had a good basketball IQ. Being a walk-on at UNF, I knew every play 1-5 positions, and if the 5 man was hurt, I could jump in and run through the sets, and we wouldn't skip a beat. Doing that really honed my mental sharpness with basketball. Being a GA for Paul Mills for two years, I learned a lot. I got a lot of learning when I was an assistant at the NAIA level and being able to do every aspect so early was really good for my development. Then being able to come back to my alma mater and see the staff that's been there forever. They have a lot of knowledge, so those guys being around me helped a lot as well.

Fritchen: Describe the ins and outs of growing up as a college coach's son?

Driscoll: There's a lot of moving involved. You learn to make friends, and then when you move in a couple years you have to move on and make new friends. That can be really hard on young kids sometimes, but my brother and I are close, and we had to be there for each other growing up. I think we were able to realize early enough how hard it would be and to not lose our minds every time we had to move. Dad was working as hard as he does, and he wasn't around as much as people might think. When I was able to walk-on at UNF, I was able to spend more time with him in those four years than I did in the first 18. I was really fortunate for that. Then again, being back on staff and being around him, that meant the whole world to me.

Fritchen: What are some of your favorite college basketball memories growing up?

Driscoll: First, as a freshman, we won the school's first ASUN Championship and went to the NCAA Tournament. That was definitely No. 1. There are a lot of memories mixed in there. Being around dad on the road. A lot of good memories at Oral Roberts. We had a really good group of GAs there, and we still keep in contact to this day. We go on these family vacations every year, or every other year and all our families hang out. That's one of those bonds you'll have forever. Beating Jacksonville. Any time we can beat Jacksonville is a good memory knowing the rivalry and the city. I still to this day think it's one of the best in the country. Duke and UNC are so close. To be at the mid-major level and have two teams in the same city seven minutes apart, it's a huge rivalry that everybody comes out for. It's exciting how electric the atmosphere is for being in a small market.

Fritchen: How has your father shaped you into the man you are today?

Driscoll: His values. Being humble, being a servant first. He always taught me to work hard at everything or don't work at all. His ability to work, he was always first in and last out. Me and my brother, we took that to heart. My brother is in finance, and he's still one of the first guys into the office every day and one of the last to leave. That speaks volumes.

Fritchen: What in particular are you proudest of at an individual level?

Driscoll: Growing up the way that we did moving around a lot, that had a lot to do with how we shaped up as tougher kids with thicker skin. It's pretty hard to get under my skin, or to get me mad. That speaks a lot to how we grew up. Another thing that shapes you personally are the milestones you go through in life, and being able to marry my wife, Grace, who I met at UNF, and then our son being born in November, I mean, you want to talk about a high-stress situation, having a child born, it's up there, but it's also one of the greatest moments in my life, if not the greatest.

Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself during your journey?

Driscoll: When I was at Oral Roberts for those two years, going to college so close to home and with dad and mom, it felt homey, but moving halfway across the country on my own, that was the first part of my journey that shaped me into who I am, just learning to figure things out. I had to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. That's the best choice of words. And now, again, kind of the same thing, moving halfway across the country, but now I get to bring my wife and son, and it's a little bit more comfortable.

Kansas State University Athletics

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