Search for advice on running a team manager or a stat-keeping volunteer and you'll find the same checklist everywhere: recruit someone, hand them attendance and snack duty, maybe let them track the box score. What none of it covers is the question that actually matters once your season runs on an app instead of a clipboard — what should that person be able to open, and what should they never be able to touch. Most coaches solve this by just sharing their own login, which solves the access problem and quietly creates a much bigger one.
"Just use my login" is the default, and it's a bad one
It's the fastest way to get a parent or a videographer into your stats for Saturday's game, which is exactly why it's the default. The problem shows up later: that same login can also edit the roster, rewrite a scouting report, or delete a film card by mistake while trying to add a new one. Nobody hands a volunteer the keys to the roster on purpose — it happens because the only login available opens everything, and there was no narrower option to reach for.
The risk isn't that they're careless — it's that mistakes are cheap to make and expensive to notice
A stat volunteer under pressure during a close fourth quarter isn't reading carefully before they tap something. A wrong tap that only logs a stat is a two-second fix. A wrong tap that overwrites a scouting report you spent twenty minutes writing, or removes a player from the roster the week before playoffs, isn't something anyone catches until it's needed again — usually at the worst possible moment. The fix isn't a more careful volunteer. It's making sure the tools they don't need for their job aren't reachable in the first place.
What this person actually needs to see
- The current roster and depth chart — so they know who's on the floor without texting someone to ask.
- This week's scouting report and game plan — useful context if they're the one tagging film or calling out opponent tendencies from the bench.
- The season's stats and goals so far — genuinely helpful for spotting a trend mid-game, even if they're not the one logging it.
Notice what's not on that list: the ability to change any of it. Seeing last week's scouting report is useful. Being able to overwrite it isn't a feature this role needs — it's just unguarded risk sitting next to the thing they actually came to look at.
What "view-only" should mean in practice
A real view-only role isn't a watered-down coach account with a polite reminder not to touch things — it's one where the edit buttons simply aren't there. That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should. A permission that's only enforced by good manners lasts exactly until someone's in a hurry during a game. A permission that's enforced by the software doesn't depend on anyone remembering the rule.
Decide this before the season starts, not after the first mistake
The teams that get this right usually didn't figure it out by thinking ahead — they figured it out after a volunteer accidentally wiped out a week of practice notes trying to add a new one. Deciding the access level before handing anyone a login costs five minutes. Deciding it afterward costs whatever just got deleted.
This is exactly why HoopVault has a dedicated Video/Support Staff role, separate from head coach and assistant coach — a teammate's parent, a videographer, or a stat volunteer gets their own login that can see the roster, scouting reports, stats, and goals, with no edit access to any of it, instead of a shared password that happens to open everything else too. Add view-only staff access in HoopVault — free to browse, no card required.