When Brian Biagioli began looking closely at the growing field of sports science, he saw a paradox.
Professional and collegiate sports teams increasingly needed specialists who could translate athlete performance, movement, readiness, recovery and data into better decisions. But there was no doctoral program built specifically to prepare students for those roles.
“There were a couple programs that had Ph.D.s in exercise physiology or kinesiology, with a couple of classes in data analytics bolted to it, but none of them were human performance-related and none taught the use of data analytics in sports,” said Biagioli, assistant professor of professional practice and graduate program director for applied physiology in the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development.
So, Biagioli built one, resulting in the Doctor of Sport Science in sport science and data analytics, a first-of-its-kind degree designed for professionals who want to lead sport science programs in athletic departments, professional organizations, performance centers and related industries.
“It took three years because it was an invention,” Biagioli said.
To reach his goal, Biagioli created a singular curriculum and started with the profession itself. He studied the national board exam specifications, mapped the knowledge, skills and abilities expected of sport science professionals, and conducted a role-delineation study with practitioners from the Power Four college athletic conferences, along with the NBA, NFL, Major League Soccer and professional baseball.
Those experts rated job tasks by depth, scope and daily importance, helping Biagioli align every course and learning outcome with the work graduates will be expected to perform.
The resulting program includes 20 courses. Rather than write a traditional dissertation, candidates must complete a sport science project that culminates in a working key performance indicator built from real athlete data. Students also learn to program in R and Python, tools increasingly used to interpret performance data and inform training decisions.
Demand for the program surfaced almost immediately. “We didn’t even advertise the program,” Biagioli said. “I had over 70 emails from coaches around the world in the first week.”
Biagioli originally planned for 15 students in a face-to-face cohort. The program enrolled those 15, plus 25 more in a hybrid track. Many students are already working in professional sports organizations or university athletic departments, and most hold a master’s degree in human performance or a doctorate in physical therapy.
“Most came in already employed in a sports league or at a university,” Biagioli said. “This inspired the need for a hybrid model, as they were in high-paid positions in jobs they were not going to leave.”
Hybrid students come on campus once or twice a year, where they demonstrate proficiency with instrumentation or help teach it to classmates.
Each admitted student also receives a crosswalk document comparing previous graduate coursework with the doctoral curriculum, allowing Biagioli to build an individualized learning path.
“I don’t want redundancy,” Biagioli said. “I want reinforcement and progression.”
Markus Mallenschitz chose the campus route. An international student who completed the applied physiology master’s program at the University, Mallenschitz works with the Hurricanes men’s basketball team and now serves as Biagioli’s graduate assistant in the doctoral program.
“Learning the material from experts is great but having to apply my knowledge through different means and receiving feedback really sets this program apart and helped me develop as a professional,” Mallenschitz said. “That was a big contributor to my decision to stay here for the doctoral program.”
The program draws on faculty and practitioners across campus and beyond. A partnership with Miami Athletics gives students access to real-world settings and shared resources.
Students will also work in the University’s new Integrated Neuroscience and Human Performance Lab, located in the Hecht Athletic facility. Biagioli said the goal is not only academic distinction, but workforce development with a clear return on investment.
“Imagine you’re a student, and your classmate is the director of performance for the Chicago Bulls or the Boston Red Sox,” Biagioli said. “The reason for the demand is we are teaching pro teams how to do sports science.”
Source: news.miami.edu
