These days, successful pro sports teams evaluate players on the basis of not only the gut reactions of grizzled scouts but also the expertise of brainy stats wonks. To that end, the Rams have hired math whiz Rebecca Lally as the team’s new “football information systems analyst.”
You have an engineering degree. How did you end up in sports? Ever since middle school, I loved math and knew I wanted to apply it in sports.
Is it weird to be a woman in the macho-masculine NFL? I was the first female statistician in high school with the baseball team. Then, at Georgia Tech, it’s mostly a male-dominated school. I have been in this culture for a while. I love it, though. I’m trying to inspire other women to get involved in sports, too.
Moneyball made wonky stats mainstream in baseball. Is football behind the curve? Not all NFL teams have a department like ours. I feel like what we’re doing is really cool, and it is making an impact. It’s only going to grow from here.
