Comedian George Carlin once joked in a sketch that “football is a technological battle of the 20th century.”

Football has long used technology such as headsets, radio communications and film to aid preparation during the practice week, but this season technology will impact the high school game like never before.

The University Interscholastic League has permitted football teams to use video and data technology (computers, tablets, iPads, smartphones) during the game and halftime, but their use is limited to the coaches’ booths and locker rooms.

The use of video and data technology on the sidelines and on the field is prohibited.

The use of this data technology will change the way coaching teams adapt to the behavior of their opponents in a game.

In the past, the coaching staff had to manually decipher what was happening on the field with their eyes in real time.

The 2024 rules will allow them to use software that shows their opponents’ trends down to the minute. If their opponent has passed the ball on all nine plays while a particular tight end is in the game, the software will let the coaching staff know immediately, rather than having to wait until Saturday’s film session when it’s too late.

“You have to make decisions, who do I put in the press box now?” said Legacy head coach Clint Hartman. “Because those guys are the ones who are deciphering the information and you really have to trust them. So your more experienced coaches are going to be put in the press box now, as opposed to before when they might have been on the sidelines because you had to figure it out quickly and expeditiously.”

Before this year, team staff typically employed a coach during a game to record each play on paper, including formation, personnel, defensive formation, type of play, and whether it was a win or loss.

The staff would have 25 minutes at halftime to analyze the game plan and make adjustments if necessary.

Using the software programs, coaches can enter this information into a tablet and record trends as the game progresses.

When the offense makes explosive plays from inside zone plays out of a spread formation, those plays are saved so coaches can watch replays and share them with their players at halftime.

“It compiles the information, it compiles the stats, and it compiles the efficiency,” said Jon Shalala, whose ANSRS software is used for game coverage by Odessa Permian. “It compiles what you’re doing well and what you’re doing poorly. And from there, they can watch those specific plays during the game. So now you can see every single play — the explosive plays, the efficient plays, the inefficient plays. What formations they’re running based on their run-pass tendencies. Now you have access to that data so you can develop the best strategy against your opponent in real time.”

Greenwood head coach Bryan Hill believes the technology will provide the greatest benefit to offensive decision-makers.

“That’s one thing that’s going to be a blessing and a curse, and it’s going to have some unintended consequences,” Hill said. “First, it’s going to be a lot harder to play defensive football. These offensive coaches are pretty perceptive. They can see your plan and your attack plans on the first two series and make those adjustments on the third, fourth and fifth series of the game. I think defense is going to be a lot harder. In the past, they’ve had the advantage of not seeing it until Saturday morning, and then it’s too late.”

Midland High head coach Thad Fortune doesn’t believe technology will determine actual results.

“I think it’s going to be more on the margin as to how much it’s going to help,” Fortune said. “The earlier you learn something, the better. Hopefully you learn something during the game. Obviously, you miss things and you see them on Saturday morning when you watch the video and you think, man, if we had known exactly that, we could have done that. That’s obviously going to be an advantage, but both sides have that advantage.

“I think if both teams use it well, the way they want to use it, it comes down to what this game always comes down to. Who’s going to be strong physically? Who can take care of the ball? Who can be good on the third attempt? I don’t think it’s going to change the game. Like I said, everyone has the same advantages now.

Hartman says he can tell if an offense is running a mid-line option from the sideline.

Hartman is an old-school coach who doesn’t need software to know what’s going on on the field, but he recognizes that the future of football could lie in tech-savvy coaches.

Someone who can quickly process the data and communicate to the coaching staff and players what is happening on the field.

“Nick Saban said it best: There are a lot of people today who are great at technology who may not be the greatest X- and O-people, but you have to find a place for them on your team,” Hartman said.

Not every trainer is willing to provide staff exclusively for technology.

“We’re going to try to use video technology a little bit to see if we like it early on,” Coahoma head coach Chris Joslin said. “Right now I’m undecided until we try it out. It sounds great, but we’re not going to give up a coach just to do that.”

ANSRS executive director Tim Prukop said Thursday that the technology doesn’t give coaches any new tasks, but rather lets them do essentially the same work, but in a more time-efficient and efficient manner. Prukop claims his software allows coaches to put together their game plan for next Friday’s game by Saturday afternoon, whereas most coaching staffs might be able to plan until Sunday evening without the technology.

“I would say the most important thing is that you shouldn’t do things just for the sake of doing them,” Fortune said. “None of us need extra tasks. Coaches don’t need extra tasks. But if they can be used as an advantage, you should definitely try to figure that out. You know that your opponents are going to take advantage of that, so you have to figure out how to use it to your advantage.”

The UIL rule even goes beyond the new NCAA rule, which allows college football programs to set up up to 18 tablets on the sidelines, in the locker room or in the locker room during a game, but does not allow them access to game analytics or data.

Hill, who served as an assistant at the University of South Florida from 2017 to 2019, remembers how much it benefited his staff to be able to watch the television broadcast in the booth.

“My last college season was 2019 and back then, network coverage was allowed in the press box and that was all either team had,” Hill said. “If ESPN decided to replay something, you could see it there from the television perspective, but there were no iPads, no instant replay of all 22 versions of the bird’s eye view. That wasn’t allowed in the press box.

“But even having the TV copy available and being at the mercy of an ESPN producer helped a lot. You could see who was in your gaps, who was running the right routes, who was running the wrong routes, things like that, but nothing compared to what will be allowed in the press box now. It’s an interesting time to be in high school football because you’re experiencing some of these rule changes for the first time.”

Hartman said he believes the UIL will allow tablets on the sidelines in a year.

Prukop said ANSRS is working on technology that could be ready in six months. A camera could film the game and the computer could recognize the attack formation, personnel and defense. An assistant would not even have to enter the information.

It’s certainly a brave new world of high school coaching.

“The other thing is the ability to watch a play, diagnose it and make adjustments without the benefit of instant replay. I think the value of that ability is going to go down significantly,” Hill said. “Because now anyone can look at their iPad and see what happened. Having that special talent isn’t worth as much as it was a year ago, in my opinion, because anyone can see it on TV today.”

“I think it will change the game a lot.”