Sports analytics

University of Missouri-Columbia
Graduate certificate
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Overview

Big data in sports provide a unique and challenging opportunity for advanced statistical analysis. The goal of the sports analyst is to identify patterns from the data – to inform and optimize player and team strategy and to predict future outcomes in athletic performance.

The online graduate certificate program in sports analytics at Mizzou offers a unique opportunity for students to learn statistical methods and computational tools to perform analyses for sports. The program will help to prepare students for career opportunities in the exciting and growing industry of sports analytics.

Quick facts

Official name

Graduate certificate in sports analytics

Campus

University of Missouri-Columbia

Program type

Graduate certificate

Academic home

College of Arts & Science | Department of Statistics

Delivery mode

100% online

Accreditation

Higher Learning Commission

Credit hours

12

Estimated cost

$6,300.00

*This cost is for illustrative purposes only. Your hours and costs will differ, depending on your transfer hours, your course choices and your academic progress. See more about tuition and financial aid.

Someone working out, with sports analytics graphs and data displayed.

Career prospects

Potential careers

Sports data analyst positions working for:

  • Performance technology corporations
  • Professional sports teams
  • Sports analytics consulting companies
  • Sports betting companies
  • Sports video game developers
Burning Glass Technologies. 2021. Salary numbers and employment growth numbers are based on models that consider advertised job posting salary, Bureau of Labor Statistics data and other proprietary and public sources of information for multiple occupations.
12.92%
Employment growth
Burning Glass Technologies. 2021. Salary numbers and employment growth numbers are based on models that consider advertised job posting salary, Bureau of Labor Statistics data and other proprietary and public sources of information for multiple occupations.
$91,000
Median salary

Program structure

The online graduate certificate in sports analytics is 100 percent online: no campus visits required.

Courses are semester-based. Students typically take two classes in fall and two classes in spring and finish the program in a year.

Delivery

100% online

Calendar system

Semester-based

Typical program length

1 year

Typical course load

2 classes per semester

Accreditation

The University of Missouri is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.

Faculty spotlight

Christopher Wikle

Research interests:

  • Sports statistics
  • Spatio-temporal models
  • Dynamical models
  • Bayesian hierarchical methods
  • Deep learning
  • Reinforcement learning
  • Environmental and ecological statistics
Christopher Wikle
Curators Distinguished Professor
Nicholas Grieshop

Nicholas Grieshop is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Statistics. Dr. Grieshop teaches methods in sports analytics, applied statistical models and introduction to Bayesian data analysis. His research interests include undergraduate research, sports statistics, Bayesian modeling and deep learning. He earned his doctorate in statistics from the University of Missouri. He previously worked as a mechanical engineer.

Nicholas Grieshop
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Statistics

Learn more about this program

This program is administered by the Department of Statistics