The SBCC football team will be well-equipped on and off the field in 2008, thanks to a $50,000 donation from CoachComm, the largest provider of football software and headsets in the country.

In return, the Vaqueros will offer a summer class on Video Technology, focusing on CoachComm’s video operation and a software program called “PowerEdit.” The classes begin June 21 and will last for seven hours on seven Saturdays.

“They’re asking us to build a series of classes to teach their system,” said SBCC football assistant Craig Robinson, who worked with the software last year and will be a teacher of the new class.

“If you pick the top two systems in football, PowerEdit would be one of your picks.”

The PowerEdit software allows coaches to sort plays and/or formations in a myriad of situations. It can also create highlight tapes for players to send off to four-year schools.

“It’s made my job easier and more effective,” said SBCC’s second-year head coach, Craig Moropoulos. “We’ve got sideline views, end zone views and lots of editing options.”

Robinson says the possibilities are endless.

“Anything and everything you can imagine can be done by PowerEdit,” he stated. “We look at it as a coaching tool — No. 1 for the coaches, No. 2 for the classes that will help students and work-study filmers at the NCAA Division 1 level, and the last thing is it will help us in recruiting.

“We’ll be the first school on the West Coast teaching classes like this. It’s all nonlinear editing systems, so it’s no different than Word and Word Perfect,” Robinson said. “CoachComm will help place students who do a good job of learning. When they sell PowerEdit systems, they need people to teach the system to the buyer.”

Robinson said every SBCC football coach will have his own PowerEdit system.

“When I was at Idaho (a Division 1 school), only four coaches had the system,” he noted. “I don’t think there’s another JC in the country that has the system we have. It will help coaches be better coaches and help players be better players.”

The Video Technology class will take field trips to UCLA and USC to get a first-hand look at the CoachComm video and software programs.

“Our program is essentially the equivalent of a Division 1 because they’re going to let us license as many computers on campus as we want,” Robinson said. “Every coach who wants to learn this software and apply it to their sport will get licensed software for a computer.”

CoachComm offers video-editing software for other sports as well, such as basketball, soccer and volleyball. Click here for more information on CoachComm.

Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information specialist.