After spending 24 years in the US Marines, Leonard Smoot became the Head Coach and founder of the golf program at Miles College in Alabama. He was elected to the HBCU African-American Golfers Hall of Fame and is the current president of the Black College Golf Coaches Association. 

Last season, Miles College won its first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship since 2016 and competed in only its second ever NCAA D2 Regional. Coach Smoot says that Clippd has played an important part in helping his players to identify their strengths and weaknesses and in doing so, has empowered them to play to their potential.

We sat down with Coach Smoot during the off-season to discuss his recent successes, his first season with Clippd, and what his goals are for the season ahead.

You had a very successful season in 2023/24. Miles College won the SIAC Championship and qualified for NCAA D2 regionals. How would you assess last season, Coach?

Leonard Smoot: A major success. When we started out, I told my guys that we were not the best team. We had one of our other teams in the conference that I thought probably was a little bit better than where we were. We had to figure out where we want to go in order to achieve the success that we’re trying to achieve. 

Initially in the fall, I had what I call a mixed bag of players. I was testing to see exactly which guys we're going to step up so we can establish some kind of continuity on the team. We got to October timeframe and that's where we started having some success. 

I took what I thought was the best five players out to compete and of those five over a three-day period four guys pretty much won the tournament on their own. That's when I made the decision that I was going to stay with those four guys for the remainder of the season, and whoever wanted that fifth spot was going to have to fight for it. 

What Clippd did for me as a coach is simplify things

In the past, I would say, ‘We’re going out to the range. We're going to do this. We're going to do that.’ What Clippd did for me as a coach is simplify things. I could take some of those things from Clippd and analyse them real quick and then sit down in one on ones with those guys and say, ‘Hey, you're out there hitting driver when you should be on the putting green. Your strengths are showing that you have no problem with your driver. The weak points are showing that you’ve got issues with putting or the short game. So let's set up a combine and work specifically on those to improve your percentages with putting or chipping.’

Was this the first time Miles College had used a stats program, and if so, how readily did the guys lean into it? 

Leonard Smoot: We did not have any kind of analytics to help us identify any weak points or strengths, so Clippd was the first thing we used. I’d heard of other platforms but when Clippd was introduced I was like, ‘Yeah, we're going to do this.’ I wanted it, I like that it is user friendly. 

Then one of my guys said, ‘We need to use analytics.’ I was like, okay we got to try this. So we did that. He started using it and then the whole team started using it, but I didn't contribute. My team captain made the team sign a contract. 

Philip Darst has one more year with us due to the Covid year, so he's coming back. He's been using Clippd religiously. His scores have dropped tenfold using the analytics. He just recently finished 16th in his Alabama State Am out of 154 players. 

Philip Darst had a great season. He was individual medalist at the Southern Intercollegiate Conference Championship and had a whole stack of top-10 finishes, including a second at the HBCU D2 championship. Is he somebody who has dived into Clippd and is now seeing the results?

Leonard Smoot: That would be very fair to say. Number one is his short game. Through the analytics and the process, he realised that his putting and short game were the weakest part of his game. But he concentrated and dove in really far into that side of his game and it helped to catapult his scoring average over the summer. 

Philip Darst has been using Clippd religiously. His scores have dropped tenfold using the analytics

Last season my top three were Philip, Malachi Green and Samuel Stagno. They will probably be the top three this season as they're the ones playing the best over the summer. Malachi’s scoring average is now probably right around 73. Samuel was an All-American last year. One of his goals was to become an All-American and he achieved that. 

You qualified for the NCAA D2 Regionals for only the second time last season. Is that something that you’ve set as a target for this season?

Leonard Smoot: Yeah. I recently signed six guys. At a minimum, three of those guys are going to be able to help us get to that point to hopefully repeat or we go to the PGA Works Collegiate Championship, which is the national championship for HBCUs. Either way is a success, but obviously you're always striving to get to the NCAA regionals to be able to compete. 

From a college perspective, all we're trying to do at Regionals is get into the five spot. If we get to the five spot it's a win because that gets you to the NCAA National Championship. And from there, you never know what might happen. We could potentially surprise people and have a special week, so we're always striving for the NCAAs. 

What I would say is Clippd has helped to change Miles College’s trajectory

I think it's a realistic goal, even with us being in the toughest region in the country. Is getting to the five spot doable with just a few more pieces in place? We got to 2 or 3 under in the first round and we were at the top of the leaderboard for a while. I had to take a picture of that to kind of remind myself that at least we were at the top for a brief moment!

What would you say to other coaches and players who are considering using Clippd? 

Leonard Smoot: What I would say is Clippd has helped to change Miles College’s trajectory. It has helped to change the trajectory of many of my players by enabling them to see their strengths and see their weaknesses. 

If you are not using some kind of analytics these days, you’re probably behind the power ball. At every level of sports, analytics is being defined by do I go for fourth and one to shooting the three point shot to how do you go about recruiting? Do we bring this guy in in Major League Baseball? Analytics are being used at every level of sports today and if you're not using tools like Clippd then you're at a disadvantage over the other programs.

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