Velma's alma mater needs star athletes to keep a donor from backing out, but is being haunted by the ghost of an athlete. While investigating, the gang teams up with Tim Conway, who is working as the school's coach to gain knowledge for a sports biopic he hopes to appear in.
This episode contains examples of the following:
- Accidental Athlete: Shaggy, Scooby, and Tim make astounding progress running laps, jumping hurdles, swimming, and pole vaulting when they think their lives are in danger (and Tim surpasses the other two with how fast he ends up running the obstacle course — to reach the pool at the end — after accidentally setting his pants on fire). The announcer at the end even calls them the three greatest athletes in the world after watching them run. To add insult to injury for the villain (who's pretending to be the ghost of Fireball McPhan), Shaggy and Scooby break Fireball's former track record in their panic.
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: Used when Tim Conway claims to be working as a coach to prepare for the role of Coach Knute Rockne in a biopic.Jay Teller: If you're Knute Rockne, then I'm the king of Siam.
- Crusty Caretaker: Jesse Finster, the school's new janitor, is a scowling man who takes pleasure in scaring the characters by talking about the hauntings.
- Evil Twin: The principal, Mr. Griffith, has been kidnapped and impersonated by his twin brother, who wants to shut down the school and appropriate the sports arena for a racetrack.
- Fiery Redhead: The ghost of Fireball McPhan is a sneering and vindictive redhead (although the hair is just part of a disguise). The real McPhan also apparently qualified, as he would do anything to win athletic competitions.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: A rattled Tim is trying to quit his job and flee when Mr. Griffiths goes into a speech talking about how Tim string at the school is the only thing saving them from closure, and he's very grateful for this. Tim awkwardly shuts up. This becomes a retrospective Nice Job Fixing It, Villain moment with the reveal that Mr. Griffith, or the man impersonating him at the time, is one of the villains.
- Uncle Pennybags: Zigzagged with athletically-inclined local construction magnate Mr. Teller. He showers the school with huge donations and buys them a big new stadium. However, he conditions this upon them having a winning sports team and is sour that they haven't turned one out. Played straighter at the end, when he's impressed after the gang solves the mystery and doubles his donation with no strings attached.
- Vague Age: The Mystery Inc kids' ages are harder to read in this episode, as Velma has already graduated from high school, although she could be a grade-skipping prodigy.
- Verbal Backspace: Tim gets a moment of this when the gang marvels about how all of the time he's spent at the school must have taught him a lot about athletics. He agrees that they might say that, only to suffer a humiliating accident when he tries to handle a football. He sheepishly adds "Then again, you might not."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Jesse claims that the janitor from when Velma attended the school vanished mysteriously when the hauntings began. After that scene, the old janitor is never mentioned again. Since Jesse is one of the villains, he's presumably either lying to scare them or kidnapped the janitor to take his job, in which case the janitor is presumably released with the real Mr. Griffith.
