STARKVILLE — Brock Dulaney always knew he wanted to be involved with athletics, particularly the college game.
Dulaney said his wife, Michelle, joked with him about “not ever leaving college.” But Dulaney wouldn’t want to work anywhere else, and couldn’t imagine himself working at a 9-5 job.
The Mississippi State coordinator of filming and computing services was a student at Itawamba Community College from 1988-89 when someone from his alma mater — Itawamba Agricultural High School — approached him about doing some filming for the school’s football team. That led to him working from 1990-92 as a student at MSU, where he helped film football practice. In 1995, he was working in Jackson doing fundraising for the arthritis foundation, when he received a call about returning to MSU full time. He was offered the job and has been working with MSU athletics since 1995. He will be with No. 21 (3-1, 1-1) when it plays No. 14 Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) in College Station, Texas.
“It was like it was being laid out for me to do something,” Dulaney said.
Dulaney, a big Jimmy Buffett fan, came to MSU in 1995 to turn in his resume for the job. He was wearing a Jimmy Buffett concert shirt, ripped cargo shorts, and flip flops and went to see head athletic trainer Straton Karatassos.
Karatassos told him coach Jackie Sherrill was waiting to do an interview with him.
“I’m like Strat, ‘I’m not dressed for an interview,’ ” Dulaney recalls. “He’s like, ‘It doesn’t matter,’ so I interviewed for the job in that.”
Dulaney had talked with Sherrill in Jackson about returning to MSU, so his attire for the job interview didn’t really change Sherrill’s mind.
Dulaney didn’t expect the job to last very long. He thought he would get involved in some other aspect of college athletics, but he’s still doing it.
Dulaney oversees a crew of nine students and one graduate assistant that films practice. He’s in charge of getting the film of practice to coaches as soon as they walk off the field.
“Everything’s got to be perfect, and my kids have to be perfect,” Dulaney said. “We always harp on don’t miss any plays. If you miss a play, the coaches are going to come let you know about it. We don’t get a chance to re-shoot anything. We have to be perfect all the time, and there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that.”
Dulaney helps to film all the athletic events on campus.
Technology has come a long way since Dulaney arrived at MSU. He remembers putting games and practices on tapes. Then it was DVDs. Now he uses the Internet to send film to players and coaches.
Coaches can get home at a decent hour and spend time with their families because they can watch film at home. Every football player has an iPad, so they can access film from wherever they are.
Dulaney majored in computer information systems, which he didn’t think was going to get him anywhere.
“Now the way things are with the computer side, I’m actually able to use a lot of what I learned in college to do that kind of stuff,” Dulaney said.
Dulaney also is in charge of sharing film with other Southeastern Conference teams and non-conference opponents.
Dulaney’s job was important when he first started, but now it’s more of a time-constraint issue. Dulaney and his crew use Thunderclap and iTunes to share videos of practices, workouts, games, and film of opponents.
“I don’t know if it’s more important, there’s just more avenues for it to be seen,” Dulaney said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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