CASE STUDY
College Swimming Team Management: McMurry's Digital Transformation
ABOUT
CREWLAB PLAN
Pro
Under the leadership of Head Coach Jedow and Assistant Coach Samuel Willstrop McMurry University’s Division III swimming program broke 13 school records over the past two years. The program transformed from using scattered tools (Google Calendar, GroupMe, spreadsheets) to a unified coaching platform that tracks workouts, manages communication, and monitors athlete wellness.
McMurry University’s Division III swimming program used CrewLAB’s swimming team management app to consolidate scattered tools, improve athlete tracking, and strengthen team accountability.
“CrewLAB has transformed how we operate as a team. Having all our communication, scheduling, and metrics in one place has made our lives easier while simultaneously improving both the athlete and coaching experience. Our athletes love that they can look back on their workout catalog and stay connected as a team.”
The challenges
Fragmented team communication: Like many college swim teams, McMurry juggled multiple platforms—Google Sheets for practice schedules, GroupMe for team messages, and Google Drive for storing workout results and test set data. This fragmented approach to swim team communication made it difficult for athletes to stay informed and for coaches to gain actionable insights.
No centralized swimmer performance tracking: Training data was scattered across paper records, spreadsheets, and various files. The coaching staff needed software that could track workout completion, yardage, effort levels, and test set results in one place—making it easy to analyze trends and inform future training decisions.
Maintaining swimmer accountability during breaks: When athletes returned home for breaks, the coaching staff had no effective way to maintain team accountability. This created inconsistencies in training during time away from campus.
Tracking athlete wellness & sleep for performance: The coaching staff recognized the importance of sleep and athlete wellness to performance, but lacked tools to effectively measure and track their impact on athlete development.
Our solution
Crewlab provided McMurry University with a unified platform that addressed their core challenges:
Centralized team communication hub: CrewLAB consolidated everything into one platform. Practice schedules, meet times, travel logistics, and team announcements all live in the team calendar and chat channels.
Complete performance & workout tracking: With CrewLAB, every workout is logged and tracked. Swimmers post their daily yardage, set times, and effort levels. Coaches can review workout history, track attendance patterns, and identify trends in performance data.
Year-round accountability: Even during winter and summer breaks, McMurry swimmers stay connected through CrewLAB. Athletes post their individual workouts, see what teammates are doing, and maintain accountability through friendly competition. The team feed creates a digital locker room that keeps everyone engaged year-round.
Dedicated onboarding: CrewLAB assigned a dedicated team member to walk the McMurry coaching staff through setup and implementation. This personalized onboarding ensured the team started strong and got immediate value from the platform.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Coaches save time previously spent managing multiple platforms, allowing more focus on athlete development rather than administrative tasks.
The ability to review workout history and see teammates’ efforts has strengthened team bonds and accountability.
Coaches can now easily correlate attendance, effort, and performance data for more informed training decisions and better competitive preparation.
“With swimming, the majority of training time your head is underwater and you’re focused on what you’re doing. Being able to have a hub for the team online gives the team a greater sense of connection.”