When Marquette announced it had expanded the coaching staff to include a new director of Video and Analytics, something we had been hoping for since the Wojo era, I got irrationally excited. So much so that I had to dust off the old reporter notebook and get to talking with Devon Mulry, the owner of that new title.
The following is a condensed version of our interview.
What is your background?
I started at Michigan and was an undergrad in economics. One of my first days my freshman year I went to the offices to get involved right away. I have a passion for basketball and knew that’s where I wanted to be. I worked with Coach John Beilein for 4 years, then was a grad assistant for 2 more (earning 2 masters degrees) after taking a gap year.
I just knew I wanted to coach, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. After we lost to Villanova in the championship (in 2018) I went to D2 as assistant at Lake Superior State under Steve Hettinga. I learned a ton in one year there. Then I went to Texas after having connected to coach Luke Yaklich who was a coach there and who I had worked closely with at Michigan. We stayed at Texas after Shaka left, as my wife was a resident in a program and we didn’t want to move and I worked for HD Intelligence the past 2 years before landing here.
You’ve worked for Shaka in the past, what drew you to him/Marquette this time?
I worked for them as consultant at HDI the past two season, as Marquette was one of my clients. But the things Shaka’s about draws me to him and program. He has relationships with everyone in the building. Not just Tyler Kolek or Cody Hatt, who’s been with him the longest. He will do anything to help you and make you feel like you’re a part of something bigger. He believes it.
Having seen Shaka/Texas up close, what is different about MU/Shaka?
He’s a remarkably consistent person. I think that’s what makes him great. He has an attention to detail in every part of the program and can take in more info than anyone I’ve been around. And then distill it. That hasn’t changed.
How different is it working for a school directly, rather than consulting said school?
I learned so much at HDI in terms of analytical background of how to translate information to make it easy for coaches to digest. But I don’t have to do a lot of translating to do here. The coaching staff is really smart and capable to make the data actionable. However, sometimes what’s really important is diverting people away from what isn’t important. Like, there’s no need to talk about lineups in the first 3 games. There just isn’t enough sample size.
What is the scope of your current role at MU?
There’s a lot of traditional video coordinator stuff, making sure the coaches are in the best position, video wise. Coach Smart is huge on video to inspire and motivate, not just scout. We want to drive home our culture. Being active and looking for stuff to motivate or inspire is just as important. During the season the scouting and analytics will ratchet up, but right now we’re developing a foundation.
We know Nevada Smith isn’t a fan of on/off stats in general, but Shaka is, where do you fall?
I value the team stuff. In terms of lineups, I’m probably more like Nevada. College is just so different than the NBA, they play 82 games, and max we get half if we play full the allotment. I learned from HDI, don’t even talk lineups until we get 10 games worth of data. It can do more harm than good in terms of coming to conclusions that may do more harm than good. Also, anything lineups based has to be adjusted for 3-point luck. A few lucky bank shots can skew the whole sample if don’t control for that.
What kinds of stats do you think the public undervalues?
That’s a tough one. Probably offensive rebounding, but people are coming around on it. Teams emphasize and are starting to send 4 or 5 to the glass more often. It can be a huge advantage. But it’s more important to figure out what our strengths are, analytically, given roster and playing style and to press those advantages instead.
Defensive rebounding hasn’t been a strong point of MU the past 2 seasons, has that been a focus?
We are really working at it. It’s a constant, daily, hourly focus of our program. but yeah, a lot is personnel driven. We probably won’t be the best this season, but are working to improve. And we can take a step forward and press other advantages, such as creating turnovers.
Any players that have stood out to you either from what you saw last year or a Spring/Fall jump?
I’d say David Joplin’s shooting is continuously impressive. He can hit all sorts of contested shots and is using his size to hunt for opportunities. He now has a couple season sample and has proven on paper, too. He’s been very impressive to me. And of course Tyler Kolek. Some of the things he does in practice or in games…
Paint Touches 
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