register here to get Beyond the Back Page delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
No one knew college basketball was about to change forever. Not even the catalyst for the revolution, tinkering with statistics and mathematical formulas during his downtime after writing a thesis on atmospheric science.
Ken Pomeroy did not aspire to become one of the most influential people in sports, playing a role on virtually every team in the country. He couldn’t figure out how many coaches would depend on the advanced stats system featured on his website (kenpom.com). He couldn’t imagine becoming the godfather of a movement, changing the way teams prepare, altering media coverage and influencing sports betting.
Pomeroy, 48, was simply a college basketball fan with no connection to the sport outside of rooting interests for his alma maters (Virginia Tech, Wyoming). He had been passionate about mathematics since he was a child. By creating proprietary algorithms to more accurately assess the strengths and weaknesses of each Division I team, Pomeroy found an absorbing and fulfilling hobby to keep him busy when he wasn’t busy working as a weatherman at the National. Weather Service.
