David RiedeAssistant Director of Football OperationsVillanova UniversityWhy did you decide to implement Teamworks?The first we heard of Teamworks was from the emails showing all the new schools joining and those schools talking about what they liked about Teamworks. Our coach asked that I do some research, so I called a couple of people at schools that already had Teamworks. The more research we did, the more we liked about Teamworks.We were using random texts and emails to get in touch with our players. Teamworks is much cleaner, allows us to track messages, and serves as a one-stop-shop for all other information. We were excited and intrigued to move forward with Teamworks in hope that it would improve our overall communication, as well as coach to player and coach to coach. What problems has Teamworks helped solve that were not being addressed before?I don't know if we ever had any major problems, but Teamworks definitely helped streamline the communication process between our staff and the players. Our coaches love that they can send messages or set reminders directly from their phone and computer. They can send out a message to any individual player, position group, or even the freshmen or juniors. That is something we really liked about Teamworks because it helped our communication and helped keep our players accountable with the email tracking. If a player ever says, "I never got that message," we can check that they did and when they opened it. Now the coaches rely on Teamworks to communicate rather than having to go to someone else to get a hold of a student-athlete.Along with the coaches, our support staff, such as equipment, strength & conditioning, compliance, and even academic support, all have the same permissions to message and schedule reminders for players. In the past, they would have to get a hold of one of the coaches, but now they can do that all on their own through Teamworks. There may not have been any big problems, but Teamworks has helped change our communication process. This was a change we were all looking forward to and have really enjoyed.What are some other examples of how Teamworks has helped your program's communication?Teamworks has been huge for us during spring ball, especially with the team calendar. The trainers have added treatment, doctors appointments, and off-site follow-up appointments. They can have scheduled automatic reminders so the athlete receives a text or an email leading up to that appointment. Our new strength & conditioning staff is still getting used to Teamworks, but has already begun sending daily reports from the weight room to the coaches and players via email. They send those at the end of each day as an email attachment.Our coaching staff has enjoyed the ability to send out a quick message and communicate schedule changes. If we have an emergency meeting with the head of parking on campus and we have to send out a message to the entire team, we can do that in just a few seconds. Teamworks has been a huge asset to us, especially the position coaches. Rather than texting each person, they can jump on their phone and in just a couple of clicks, send a message out to their position group, which has been huge.How have the athletes responded to Teamworks?They might complain that they get too many texts, but overall, they like Teamworks because they have the calendar to fall back on. Most of them know their class schedules and can remember the football schedule, but every once in a while, when they have a mental lapse, they can pull out the Teamworks mobile app and see where they need to be and when. Some players will even check the calendar before they go to bed to make sure they have the right schedule for tomorrow. Overall, the athletes like having Teamworks.How has the staff responded to Teamworks?The staff likes Teamworks as well. Not everybody bought into it right away, but as they use it more, they have all started to see the benefits. I have not heard any negative feedback from any of the support staff or coaches. It has been nothing but positives in terms of what they're telling me and what they've used Teamworks for. Overall, Teamworks has been a big hit with our staff. What is the bottom-line added value you have seen from Teamworks?Teamworks helps make us better because we have one program to spread a wealth of information to multiple groups of people in a matter of seconds. Before Teamworks, it may have taken us 10-15 minutes to track down the people you are trying to get a hold of. That time may not seem like a big deal, but over the course of a season and when you have a million other things on your plate, it is a huge asset to have.Have you seen a change in the athletes' behavior since implementing Teamworks?I think Teamworks has helped the majority of our team because, in the past, they may have had to reach out to myself or their position coach to ask if they had anything coming up that day. Now they can figure it out on their own through the Teamworks calendar. There have been fewer questions and less cases of a player forgetting something when they have the outlet to find out themselves. Overall, Teamworks has been good for our student-athletes because most athletes here at Villanova are pretty responsible and Teamworks helps them continue on that path of being on time and knowing where they have to be and when they have to be there.How would you rate Teamworks' customer service, implementation, and training process?I have been pleased with the customer service. Through the initial phases, I was trying to figure out what Teamworks was, if it was valuable, and would it be beneficial to us. The Teamworks staff has been very good, and I thought you were all clear in terms of what the product is and what we're going to be getting. The support staff was great while getting our class schedule added to the calendar and implementing everything that goes along with Teamworks. I would consider myself pretty user-friendly in terms of technology, but anytime I have had an issue, I make one phone call or send an email and I get a response quickly. Compared to other companies we've used, Teamworks is the first one we have used as a team maintenance tool, and the customer service has been right there at the top. I have been here long enough that I have been involved with some less than spectacular customer service companies, and Teamworks is not even in the same boat.I spoke to a friend of mine a couple weeks ago, because he had some questions about Teamworks. He had seen all of the emails just like I had, so I explained to him what Teamworks is, but also that the service you are paying for is outstanding along with all of the behind the scenes work from the Teamworks staff, especially with the initial setup. We provide the information, but Teamworks does all of the integration. It may take some time and money to implement, but I was really fired up about how easy the transition to Teamworks was.What would you say to somebody who has never heard of Teamworks?Teamworks is not like anything you have used before. There really isn't a program, to my knowledge, that deals with current roster maintenance. There is a lot of group software out there, but those deal with high school kids and allow you can transfer the information over to when they join the team. Those programs are not set up to handle the day-to-day roster maintenance that you would with Teamworks.Because Teamworks solely focuses on day-to-day management, it enables you to do a lot more than you could with another system built for recruiting. I talked with some recruiting software companies about that and I don't know any other programs that are similar to Teamworks. The convenience in terms of the day-to-day operations is outstanding.Would you recommend Teamworks to other programs?Yes, I would recommend Teamworks to other programs. It will save you headaches. It will save you time. It will free up those minutes on tasks you don't want to spend time on, such as tracking people down, sending messages, or getting information to your team and coaching staff. There are only 24 hours in a day for football, family, or whatever else it may be. Teamworks saves you valuable, critical time. On behalf of myself and our coaching staff, we can all agree that Teamworks has been a good purchase for our program.