{"id":95742,"date":"2020-02-17T11:35:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T17:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=95742"},"modified":"2020-02-19T14:35:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T20:35:25","slug":"electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/","title":{"rendered":"From Electrical Engineer to NFL Number Cruncher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

UM electrical engineering alumnus Adam Vonder Haar and his wife, Mary Lela, proudly wear their Dallas Cowboy jerseys in support of the team. Vonder Haar is a football research analyst for the NFL franchise. Submitted photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Like most Dallas Cowboys\u2019 fans, Adam Vonder Haar meticulously follows the team\u2019s stats, players and strategies. Unlike most fans, however, he gets paid to do so.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the University of Mississippi electrical engineering<\/a> alumnus (BSEE 14) is a football research analyst for the NFL franchise. <\/em>Vonder Haar\u2019s responsibilities range from scouting and personnel decisions to assisting coaches with game planning and opponent scouting to sports science and player health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spend a lot of time working with the NFL’s new player tracking data specifically, trying to discover ways we can use it to make our processes more efficient, improve our ability to make evidence-based decisions and uncover new insights about the game,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel very fortunate to come to work every day and do something that I enjoy so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vonder Haar is doing a great job in his role, according to Tom Robinson, Cowboys\u2019 director of football research and the UM alumnus\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam is in just his first year with the Cowboys, but he has already made a big impact in a short amount of time,\u201d said Robinson, who oversees all analytic and sports science initiatives for the football side of the operation (such as scouting, coaching, front office and performance). \u201cHe has produced meaningful analysis that has helped inform decisions made by our front office and coaching staff. Adam has a bright future in football, and we feel very fortunate to have him as part of our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson said Vonder Haar is \u201coff the charts\u201d when it comes to his curiosity, creativity and love of learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a sharp analytical mind, and he thrives on taking on really difficult and challenging projects,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cOne of the new frontiers in football analytics is leveraging Next Gen Stats player tracking data to study the game in ways that were previously not possible. Adam has been a real asset for our team in working with this complex data set and building models and metrics to help us better understand the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Brandon, Mississippi, native\u2019s love of all things football began in his youth as a hobby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m probably most proud of taking what was initially a hobby I was passionate about and turning it into a career in sports analytics,\u201d Vonder Haar said. \u201cAs long as I can remember, I’ve been an Ole Miss fan, and I always thought that’s where I wanted to go to college one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an undergraduate, Vonder Haar liked how the engineering school<\/a> at Ole Miss wasn’t so large that he felt like he would get lost in a sea of other students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt really personal,\u201d he said. \u201cI now know that feeling of a tight-knit community extends across all aspects of Ole Miss, from academics to athletics to social life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott Hutchcraft and Richard Gordon were among Vonder Haar\u2019s favorite engineering professors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from doing a great job teaching students the material, I felt like they made the classroom fun and enjoyable,\u201d he said. \u201cOur electrical engineering class became really close over the years taking many of the same courses together. I feel like Dr. Hutchcraft and Dr. Gordon played a major role in creating that sense of community in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from Ole Miss, Vonder Haar worked as an electrical engineer at Raytheon, a defense contractor, for five years both in Forest, Mississippi, and in Dallas. While he enjoyed that experience immensely, he started to become more interested in data science and analytics.<\/p>\n

\u201cPairing that with my love of sports pushed me to develop the expertise that eventually led to an opportunity with the Cowboys,\u201d Vonder Haar said. \u201cI believe my time at Ole Miss provided me with the skills to be a lifetime learner and the confidence to go after something I wanted to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vonder Haar was one of the top electrical engineering graduates in May 2014, said Ramanarayanan Viswanathan, chair and professor of electrical engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to his major, he took several courses in business administration and obtained an additional degree in business administration,\u201d he said. \u201cI had opportunity to teach him a class during his period at Ole Miss. I remember him to be social, and he had lots of friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vonder Haar credits Ole Miss engineering with teaching him how to approach problems, gather relevant information and think through appropriate solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe application of that was often specific to circuit boards and electronics at the time, but the lessons I took from that experience have generalized well to many areas in my career and allowed me to thrive in different industries,\u201d he said. \u201cMore directly, I think the computer science classes I took as a part of my EE degree helped lay the foundation for the programming that I now do daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vonder Haar and his wife, Mary Lela, met while in college. The couple lives in Dallas and enjoys hanging out with friends, playing sports, traveling and eating out at restaurants around town.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like most Dallas Cowboys\u2019 fans, Adam Vonder Haar meticulously follows the team\u2019s stats, players and strategies. Unlike most fans, however, he gets paid to do so. That\u2019s because the University of Mississippi electrical engineering alumnus (BSEE 14) is a football research analyst for the NFL franchise. Vonder Haar\u2019s responsibilities range from scouting and personnel decisionsRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1392,178],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Electrical Engineer to NFL Number Cruncher - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Electrical Engineer to NFL Number Cruncher - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like most Dallas Cowboys\u2019 fans, Adam Vonder Haar meticulously follows the team\u2019s stats, players and strategies. Unlike most fans, however, he gets paid to do so. That\u2019s because the University of Mississippi electrical engineering alumnus (BSEE 14) is a football research analyst for the NFL franchise. Vonder Haar\u2019s responsibilities range from scouting and personnel decisionsRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-17T17:35:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-19T20:35:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Adam-and-Mary-Lela-Vonder-Haar-1-168x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Adam-and-Mary-Lela-Vonder-Haar-1-168x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/\",\"name\":\"From Electrical Engineer to NFL Number Cruncher - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-17T17:35:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-19T20:35:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/electrical-engineer-nfl-number-cruncher\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/6f4ed6d2875ea26cc820d0eb0568d652\",\"name\":\"esmith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47640a561d7e19d1e29d52a4797cff04?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"esmith\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95742"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96177,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95742\/revisions\/96177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}