Louisiana UnLimited: Life Behind the Lens
For the last 23 seasons, Darren Walker has been a part of Louisiana football as the video coordinator, providing an essential service to the team's coaching staff.
Walker manages the day-to-day operation of the football video department which includes providing practice, game, workout, opponent and NFL video to the Ragin' Cajuns' football staff and players.
He also provides technical support and statistical analysis to the staff and produces motivational videos throughout the year.
Prior to joining the football program, Walker spent five years at KATC-TV in Lafayette as a videographer, producer, sports reporter and anchor after graduating from Louisiana.
"It was good fortune," Walker said. "I was doing television and did that for five years and new leadership came into the newsroom and decided they wanted their own people. Coach (Troy) Wingerter was the video guy before me and moved on to being the defensive line coach. The spot became available, and the rest has been history. It's been a great 23-year ride."
The times have changed tremendously for Walker throughout the 23 years. Long are the days of shipping film or driving to meet opponents to do a film swap. Nowadays, things are much more convenient with video being available online.
"I was fortunate enough to get into the industry after the reel-to-reel and having to cut tape and put it together era was over. It's funny we still call it film even though it's not film," Walker stated. "When I got here, everything was on S-VHS, which is just higher quality VHS and we were having to drive to Alexandria to meet ULM to exchange tape in a McDonald's parking lot. Or if we were playing someone much farther away, like Middle Tennessee when they were in the conference, we would have to put all our tapes on the plane as cargo and fly that to Nashville and they would have to drive an hour from Murfreesboro to Nashville to get the tapes.
Now there is an open exchange site so everyone can get everyone's video, whether it's FBS or FCS. It's all there. After we play, our film is available about an hour after our game ends. The incredible progress that has been made in 20 years and we are all super thankful for it. I am sitting here thinking how this can get any better. Because I can't envision it getting any better than what it is now."
Having the film immediately available for the coaches is paramount to the team's success whether it is after a practice or following a game.
"To say that having film immediately available for coaches after the game is critical is an understatement. When we get off the plane at 1 a.m. and you're not worried about having to get home at 3 a.m. and then wake up in the morning to grade your film, it saves a tremendous amount of time," Walker said. "The process is this. After each quarter, it is me and a student, SD cards are pulled out of the cameras and brought to our location, and we import and 'intercut'. So, you see the endzone version and sideline version of the play. So that is happening while the game is being played so after the game is complete the only thing left to do is the fourth quarter. Barring any disaster with cards or cameras, we have been able to crank that out in time. Every coach has an iPad where they can watch and get their critical work done. That way when we do get off the plane early in the morning, their film is already graded, and they don't have to come in early in the morning and do it. It allows them to turn the page faster on the next opponent."
As a new week begins and the Ragin' Cajuns prepare for a new opponent, practice is not only important for the players, but the video team as well. Walker helps prepare his team of 14 students schedule for to help them prepare for what the team will do throughout the day's practice. In addition to the team's practice, Walker is gathering more video to digest for the coaches.
"Practice is the most important thing we do. We do it four times a week. You're getting ready for your next opponent, and so to me of all the stuff we do, practice film is at the top of the list. On Tuesday, all of the NFL games become available, so I am downloading and importing that while attaching data to it.
Our guys like to study NFL tape. On offense and defense, I am bringing in 80 teams that they want to study and how they do things. Prior to practice, I am putting practice schedules together for my students so they know where to shoot and what to shoot. I don't like leaving anything to chance."
Home games are busy days for Walker and the video staff arriving in the morning at the team hotel following team meetings and chapel to pack up equipment and bring back to the office. He assists in getting video ready for prospective student-athletes when they arrive for unofficial and official visits and prepares music in the locker room and indoor facility for the players during warmups.
But most of all, Walker is emphatic on hospitality. It is a point of emphasis for he and his team to make sure the opponent's video team is well taken care of.
"One of the things we take pride in in our department is hospitality. Even if you have been to Cajun Field six times and you know this place inside and out, we still come out and meet you when you get here and my kids and I will take you to your film locations," Walker stated. "We believe in helping our fellow video people out. I've been to enough big stadiums where you get lost, and it isn't a good feeling.
I made it a point that we are going to take care of our opponents when they get here. We want to treat them how we would like to be treated on the road."
All this work couldn't be done by just Walker. He uses the support of a team of 14 students, the most he has ever had, who help him carry out the day-to-day work. The students range in majors and backgrounds but have one thing in common: work ethic.
"In terms of their importance, without them, none of this gets done," Walker said. "You have to find quality people to do this. You have to find go-getters. You have to find people who take pride in their work. I tell them all the time they are never going to outwork me, but they can try. That's what I want.
It's a weird workday for them because if we practice at 4 p.m., they get here at 3:15 p.m. Practice gets over at 6:15 p.m. and so your shift is three hours. That's not like most jobs. And for those three hours, you get after it. We, as video coordinators, are only as good as our students are. If they give you good video and your coaches are happy then you're happy. People say recruiting is the lifeblood of the program, well, students are the lifeblood of the department. We can't do what we need to without them. I've had students come from all different backgrounds and majors in school. I have a former student that is a doctor.
Doing this job, it helps to know football and it helps to know video, but you don't have to. You don't have to know much about either one, but if you are willing to put in the time to learn it then you can do just as well as anybody else."
As the Ragin' Cajuns have had success on the field with a Sun Belt championship and five consecutive bowl games, Walker has had personal success as he has been voted as the Collegiate Sports Video Association's Sun Belt Video Coordinator of the Year three times in the last five seasons.
"I'll be honest, the first time that I won it was in 2018 and I didn't think much of it," Walker said. "Then I went to our convention and saw how much stock everybody put into that. I got to meet a whole bunch of people at the convention and became friends with them and I am friends with them now. We have quite the community. We are able to talk to each other about things. To be recognized like that and to be voted by your peers in your conference is very cool. It is a neat thing.
All it does is to drive me to do it again. I tell my students all the time that I want them to understand that we are going for number four now. It reflects them. It's not a personal thing because they make it happen too."
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Re: Louisiana UnLimited: Life Behind the Lens
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