University of Sioux Falls

Introduction

At the University of Sioux Falls, nearly 500 student-athletes rely on a compliance office run by essentially one person. In an environment where every minute matters, efficiency isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.

Now entering their third academic year with Spry, Sioux Falls has transformed compliance, scheduling, certification, and communication into streamlined workflows that save time while making it easier to stay compliant.

Challenges Before Spry

Before Spry, several core processes were harder than they needed to be. The previous software wasn’t built with the user in mind, and CARA (Countable Athletically Related Activities) logging was a recurring pain point. For a compliance office run by one person, every extra step mattered. Each disconnected workflow added friction to the day-to-day operations and made staying on top of compliance more difficult.

Because the old system wasn’t input-friendly, coaches resorted to separate, ad-hoc methods to share weekly calendars with their student-athletes. Practice plans and the compliance records lived in two different places.

Certification status, the signing process that pulls in departments across campus, and practice scheduling were each a source of friction. These were the moments where work would stall. Every one of those sticking points carried real cost in time and risk.

With Spry, processes that used to be a sticking point are now much easier to work through and complete compliantly.

– Eric Brothers

Enter Spry — The Solution

Spry consolidated these scattered workflows into one connected system: student-athlete certification and status communication to coaches, the signing process that incorporates other campus departments, and the scheduling of practices alongside CARA submission. The result was a single place to manage the work that previously spanned multiple tools and workarounds.

The biggest impact has been CARA logging, which Eric describes as one of the platform’s most valuable features for simplifying his day-to-day workflow. With Spry’s Calendar, coaches can inform their whole program — trainers and staff — of the plan for the week and then submit the CARA log directly from the same interface. Event modifications and changes are communicated to the program automatically, and times can be updated for individual athletes, giving Eric confidence that each plan is accurate. The athlete approval process is simple, potential violations are flagged so they can be monitored efficiently, and the correct bylaws are applied automatically for different seasons.

With the calendar features, coaches can inform their program of the plan for the week and then submit their CARA log as needed. The flagging of potential violations helps me monitor efficiently, and bylaws are appropriately applied for different sessions automatically.

– Eric Brothers

Compliance has also kept pace with one of the fastest growing areas in college athletics. Over the past two years, NIL has become a major focus, and Spry’s NIL disclosure capability has helped Sioux Falls stay compliant as that landscape continues to evolve.

A Seamless Onboarding Experience

Switching platforms is often painful, and Sioux Falls feared that onboarding their student-athletes would be a challenge. Creating roughly 500 athlete accounts could have been one of the most time-consuming parts of the transition. However, Spry’s mass account creation capability streamlined the process, making athlete onboarding much easier than Eric had anticipated.

Training sessions helped coaches see the full range of what the platform could do, and the support team at Spry has remained a steady presence ever since. Eric credits his account manager, Alec, along with the broader group of customer success managers and support staff, for getting the department to where it is today.

The speed of their assistance, their willingness to help and continue to improve the product makes it more useful in the day-to-day operations of our office.

– Eric Brothers

User-Friendly Interface

Spry has become a fixture of Eric’s daily routine — there isn’t a day he works without it. Just as importantly, the platform has won over coaches who aren’t especially tech-savvy. Once they work through a task for the first time — from roster declarations to using SprySign and sending self-service forms — they’ve noted how easy the platform is to use.

The ease has fueled a clear, measurable goal: getting every coach-facing form off paper and into Spry. The department is now roughly 90% of the way there. The handful of forms that remain on paper are used only a few times a year combined, making them a low priority rather than a real gap.

There is not a day I work without using Spry.

– Eric Brothers

A Partner, Not a Vendor

For Sioux Falls, the relationship with Spry has come to feel like a genuine partnership rather than a vendor agreement. Spry listens to feedback, asks questions to understand the department’s needs, and works to implement features that improve the efficiency of real processes.

Rather than simply responding to support requests, Spry actively gathers feedback and continues evolving the platform around how athletic departments actually operate. That responsiveness signals a company invested in its schools’ success, not just a sale.

We are not just another number for Spry. That partnership confirms the work we are doing to support our athletes, and that Spry truly wants our program to succeed.

– Eric Brothers

Results and Reflection

Three academic years into the partnership, the impact extends well beyond individual features. Nearly every coach-facing form has been digitized, practice scheduling and CARA reporting have been consolidated into a single workflow, and certification, signing, and NIL disclosures are managed more efficiently than ever before. For a compliance office supporting nearly 500 student-athletes, those improvements have reshaped day-to-day operations.

More than any single feature, it’s the removal of everyday friction that has had the greatest impact. The work itself is the same; what’s changed is how much time and effort it takes to get done.

Moving Forward

Looking ahead, Sioux Falls is positioned to close the final gap — moving the last paper-based forms into Spry — while continuing to rely on the platform across certification, scheduling, signing, and NIL. With a partner that listens and keeps improving the platform, the department has a foundation that supports both its present workload and its bigger goals.