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!