This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If ever Kalani Sitake or one of his assistant coaches stops by Errol Seaver's office, the BYU video coordinator gets a little worried.
"It's kind of like being a special teams player," Seaver says. "No one knows you until something goes wrong. … If people aren't knocking on our door, we're doing our jobs."
Fortunately, there hasn't been much need for visitors lately. Seaver recently was named the best in the country, bringing the Bob Matey National Video Coordinator of the Year trophy to Provo.
"My staff is super excited for the award," he said. "It has my name on it, but it's definitely a team effort. A lot has gone into it to make that happen."
For Seaver and his staff of 11 students, the work starts well before practice. Inside Seaver's office, everything — from cameras to memory cards and beyond — is labeled and meticulously organized. Their schedules for each day are mapped out in detail when they arrive 90 minutes before practices start.
"My guys have bought into my OCD," Seaver said. "I don't do well in pressure situations. I know that about myself. But we do it every day because we're prepared."
And Seaver has been preparing for more than two decades.
When he was 10 years old, Seaver was at a high school basketball tournament in North Carolina and was asked to lend a hand. The person who was supposed to film the game wasn't there, so his parents put the camcorder into Seaver's hands.
"I really have to thank that girl for not showing up," he said. "That gave me the foothold for my career. I loved it from day one."
Seaver was filming high school football games the next year.
"I don't want to look at the footage back then," he said. "I'm sure it's terrible. I apologize to all the coaches who had to watch it."
Twenty years later, Seaver's work is much improved — and he's always trying to find ways to make it better.
"We watch film, too," he said. "After practice, we'll watch film for an hour or two. We'll watch every play that we shot that day. Figure out things that we need to do better, whether it's the color, or the light, the framing, whether we're zooming in too fast. We're critiquing ourselves just like the players are using the footage to critique themselves."
And whether it's practice or games, Seaver and his staff live by two basic rules.
First, he tells them, "If we don't get it, it don't get got."
"Coaches can re-run plays in practice all the time," he said. "We only get one chance and we're reacting. Nobody tells us what the play is going to be, and we wouldn't know what it meant anyway. You just have to be on your toes and ready to move in an instant. It really becomes a feel, and it's natural."
The other: "Get it right and right now."
Seaver's goal is to have the film edited and onto players' and coaches' iPads within 15 minutes of practice ending.
"The quicker you have it, the longer you have it, and the more time you can prepare and the better you can be on Saturdays," he said. "Since we don't practice on Sundays, having the iPads is a huge benefit. Whether they watch it in church, that's up to them. I can't help them with that. That's between them and God."
And Seaver might not want to ask anyway.
What makes him a good video coordinator?
"I never have to talk to him," BYU tight ends coach Steve Clark said.
Twitter: @aaronfalk