Predicting Performance
Predicting Performance
By Laura Tenpenny (’11)
Scott Daughtry (BS ’24, MSBA ’25, MBA ’26), the new director of strategy for the UT men’s basketball team, lights up when speaking about some of his favorite subjects: Vol basketball and analytics.
“My work managing team databases, player performance data, and predictive analytics models have helped recruiting and transfer decisions over the last few years,” says Daughtry. “I started out as an undergraduate manager my freshman year. Then Coach Barnes asked me to move into a graduate assistant role before encouraging me to consider this full-time newly created position. My answer was a quick ‘heck yes!’—it’s my dream job to work for a team I love, for a sport I love, and for my school.”
His enthusiasm and energy are infectious as he describes his work and research, including a predictive AI model that delivers stats and projections on player performance and trajectory—a first of its kind in college basketball, to Daughtry’s knowledge.
“I began working with Lecturer Adam Spannbauer in the summer of 2022. I came to him for help understanding a platform I had begun using in my work managing team data when another faculty member pointed me his way,” says Daughtry. “The predictive AI model came about later through our partnership. It really took off when I became part of the Melton Scholars program.”
“In addition to receiving a substantial scholarship, Melton Scholars present their work at a research conference or in a peer-reviewed, published paper—rare opportunities for undergraduates in business colleges.”
Adam Petrie, associate teaching professor of business analytics and director for the Melton Scholars program
Housed in the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics, the one-year Melton Scholars program offers an elite academic experience with an emphasis on research and the student-faculty relationship. Each scholar completes research with the faculty partner, with whom they meet on a weekly basis.
“In addition to receiving a substantial scholarship, Melton Scholars present their work at a research conference or in a peer-reviewed published paper—rare opportunities for undergraduates in business colleges,” says Adam Petrie, assistant teaching professor of business analytics and director for the program. “Often this research carries real-world impact, helping a business to run better. During the job search process, the research is a key differentiating factor that can help scholars bypass the entry-level track and accelerate their careers.”
Petrie says the program boasts graduates currently working at companies including Cigna, Delta, LinkedIn, Schneider Electric, Honeywell, Deloitte, J.P. Morgan, Clayton Homes, Pilot, and Frito-Lay.
The program certainly paid real dividends in Daughtry’s career and for the men’s basketball team. Over the past four seasons and during Daughtry’s tenure, the team has delivered two SEC titles—including one SEC championship—and twice reached the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament.
“Our program project produced practical tools for coaches—both to supplement their evaluation of transfer prospects and to keep an automated, real-time watch on the transfer portal itself. Beyond that, Scott developed tools using sensor data from workouts, practices, and games to evaluate player performance more systematically,” explains Spannbauer. “Basically, it’s like giving the coaches a data-driven second opinion alongside what they already see with their own eyes.”
I couldn’t have done what I did without their support and the weekly face time with Adam as part of the Melton Scholars program—that’s one of the things that really sets this program apart and sets students up for real-world success. It definitely did for me.”
Scott Daughtry (’24, ’25, ’26)
I couldn’t have done what I did without their support and the weekly face time with Adam as part of the Melton Scholars program—that’s one of the things that really sets this program apart and sets students up for real-world success. It definitely did for me.”
Scott Daughtry
“Scott’s a very driven person who is great at identifying what he wants from his professional life, laying out a plan to get there, and executing that plan to a ‘Power’ T—of course that’s fun to watch,” adds Spannbauer. “But the best part of working with him is that he’s a great person: positive attitude, kind, generous, and more.”
And Daughtry echoes admiration for his faculty partner, who continues to assist with the team’s data needs and serve as faculty mentor to Melton Scholars who have followed in Daughtry’s footsteps as interns with the team, Tim Held (BS ’25, MSBA ’26) and Tyler Porter (’26).
“I can’t say enough good things about Adam and about the whole department,” says Daughtry. “I couldn’t have done what I did without their support and the weekly face time with Adam as part of the Melton Scholars program—that’s one of the things that really sets this program apart and sets students up for real-world success. It definitely did for me.”
Other Melton Scholar graduates report similar experiences, like Sabrina Churchley (’20), who received an offer from LinkedIn after finishing her degree and has been with the company since.
“It was my first exposure to using data to answer big questions, and it plays into my work at LinkedIn, where I help drive revenue and growth through data and analytics. I learned how to tell a story with data, and the health care research I did with Professor Bogdan Bichescu set me apart in interviews,” says Churchley. “Melton Scholars is unique in that it gives you one-on-one time with a faculty mentor. Through that time, Professor Bichescu would ask leading questions, teaching me the process for problem-solving, how to structure my work, and turn plain data into clear, actionable data.”
Not only does the program serve as a resume builder, but the research project also typically involves a real company seeking data to improve its bottom line. Spanning a full year, the program offers one of the most in-depth research experiences available to undergraduates in the department.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Meltons, who understood the need for career-ready graduates in the field, this program has not only elevated our graduates, but the entire Department of Business Analytics and Statistics. Our academic programs continue to gain national recognition, due in large part to this type of alumni and donor commitment to an elite student experience.”
Michael Galbreth, head of the Department of Business Analytics and Statistics and Pilot Corporation Chair of Excellence
Since its beginnings in 2017, the Melton Scholars program has benefited 47 students, including this year’s cohort. George (’68) and Margaret (Peggy) Melton established the program with a vision to provide more education and interaction outside the classroom between faculty and students.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Meltons, who understood the need for career-ready graduates in the field, this program has not only elevated our graduates, but the entire Department of Business Analytics and Statistics. Our academic programs continue to gain national recognition, due in large part to this type of alumni and donor commitment to an elite student experience,” says Michael Galbreth, department head and Pilot Corporation Chair of Excellence. “And we are delighted by the partnership that has emerged between the department and our men’s basketball team through Melton Scholars.”
When Daughtry took on the team’s massive data sets, he never imagined that his career and the partnership with his academic department would take off as they did.
“I just knew I could bring value to the team, and things happened to hit at the right time, like NIL and more transfer portal usage,” says Daughtry. “Then I was getting internships with NBA programs like the Indiana Pacers, and mine and Adam’s work on the transfer portal predictive model won at EURēCA [UT’s undergraduate research symposium]. I couldn’t be more grateful to my department and the Melton Scholars program for the academic and professional success I’ve experienced.
“It’s unreal that I had a hand in bringing this level of analytics to our basketball program and that my team and I have had a small part in the success of the Vols.”
