When WVU athletic teams take on Pitt, it’s the Backyard Brawl. When WVU Soccer takes on Marshall, it’s the Mountain State Derby—a different kind of brawl between the state’s top two Division I soccer teams.
During the Nov. 12 WVU men’s soccer game versus Marshall, fans watching on ESPN+ were treated to a special feature by WVU Sports and Adventure Media student Logan Callender.
Callender is a senior in the WVU Reed School of Media and Communications who also works part-time as a camera operator for ESPN+, covering baseball, football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling events.
Callender was on the sidelines for the meetup between WVU and Marshall on Oct. 31 when he conceived the “Mountain State Derby” package, which he reported and produced for “Mountaineer Playbook,” an Emmy-award winning sports magazine show produced by Sports and Adventure Media students in the Reed School. The segment explores the shared history between WVU Men’s Soccer coach Dan Stratford and Marshall Men’s Soccer coach Chris Grassie, both of whom got their start at the University of Charleston—a championship winning Division II school.
The timing of Callender’s package was perfect for re-airing during the Mountain State Derby rematch and became his debut on a major network.
I've been working in TV and on these broadcasts that you're seeing for four years. But now that you finally see my face, you know that I'm a part of this. Logan CallenderQ: How did you end up covering the Marshall-WVU soccer game?
As a freshman, I saw one of the career opportunity emails and at the very bottom—I'm super thankful that I read it, I don't know where I would be in life if I just let that go to my spam—there was a little footnote that said, ‘Mountaineer Video Production/ESPN+, meet at this room at the Media Innovation Center.’
I looked at my roommate, and I said, ‘Hey, we're both media students. This is what we want to do. Let's just go check it out.’ And we went.
We met Chris Ostien [Assistant Director of Big Screens for WVU Athletics]. I think we met Scott Bartlett [Assistant Athletics Director, Broadcast Productions for WVU Athletics]. And from that day on, we started working camera. We started working utility. And I love it. I've stuck with it for four years.
It was really just that one email that I happened to read that set me on a career path.
Q: Talk to me a little bit about how the “Mountain State Derby” package came to fruition.
Actually, my focus was going to be another package for “Mountaineer Playbook” Show 4. Then, I was working the first Mountain State Derby for ESPN+. And as it was playing out, I looked at the two coaches, and I thought, ‘Wow, there might be a story here.’ As I went further into my research, I found out that they were both coaches at the University of Charleston.
I figured, ‘Wow, isn't it crazy how WVU and Marshall are both so good at soccer?’ Then I looked at the University of Charleston men's soccer team. They have two national championships, and they're ranked as the number one Division II program, not only in the region, but in the country.
I just thought it was crazy how both coaches from the only two Division I soccer schools in West Virginia somehow can trace their roots back to the Division II level at another school in West Virginia.
Q: How often does that happen to you, when you're working on something, and it shifts?
It's happened a couple times in my time with “Mountaineer Playbook,” specifically. A lot of the time, I go into something with a general idea of what I want to do. Then, through the interactions I have—whether it's talking to people while I'm shooting or doing interviews—they'll say something, a little nugget, that I think, ‘Oh, I'd like to investigate that further.’ That little nugget of information drives the story in a whole different direction.
For Show 3, I did a story on the WVU Mine Rescue Team, and I thought it's interesting that there's this team of people who wake up at 5 in the morning three times a week to go train. It's crazy, that amount of dedication. I walked into their facility, and they have trophies everywhere. I started talking to them, and they're like, ‘Yeah, we just went to Colorado, and we competed for a championship against eight teams from around the world,’ so that became the story.
So, I have general ideas of what I like to do, but then through the face-to-face conversation, that's when you really start to pick up on the actual stories.
Q: What drew you to journalism?
I wanted to be a journalist when I first started out because, as weird as this sounds, I watched a lot of cable news growing up. I don't know why. I just wanted to be educated on things when I was in middle school.
And so I watched a lot of cable news, and I would watch it, and I'd think, ‘Wow, this is something that I could do.’ Gathering stories, since I like talking to people. Going out filming, since I'm big into cameras.
When I look at it from a broad perspective, it's everything that I love to do. It's interpersonal connections. It's shooting with cameras. It's telling a story. On top of that, when I get to do it here in an environment like sports, which I already love, it just brings it all together.
Q: What made you decide to major in Sports and Adventure Media?
I’m from Overland Park, Kansas, and when I was looking at schools, I found the Sports and Adventure Media major here. A lot of the stuff that I want to do is behind the scenes, like the camera operating and live broadcasting work for ESPN+, and this program felt like the perfect opportunity to do that.
I want to do live sports broadcasting, but the “Mountaineer Playbook” capstone course also gives me experience in a television studio.
When you're doing live sports, it's different because you're at the venue. Everything is live. You don't get a chance to script it.
With a news broadcast, it's still live, but you get a chance to plan things out much better than you would with live sports.
Q: What's your favorite part of the process?
I love interviews. I love talking to people. But what I like most is directing.
I'm the director for “Mountaineer Playbook,” and so I love getting stories. I love putting together packages. But when it comes to show day, I love being in the director's chair, because it's such a feeling of control. It's up to you for everything to go right, and it's also on you when something goes wrong, but that kind of pressure allows me to lock in.
Q: What has the Sports and Adventure Media program taught you, especially for those moments when things go wrong?
It's taught me that no matter what happens, I need to keep my cool because I've done a little bit of directing with internships over the summer, but that has always been three- or four-man crews. When something goes wrong, I look at three or four other people, and they're there to keep me grounded.
But when I'm doing something like “Playbook,” and it's a class of 20 people and something goes wrong, it's a little different when everyone else looks at you, because then you have to be the one with the solution, and you have to be the one to stay calm.
I can't really look at 19 other people and allow them to keep me grounded. I have to be the one that goes out of my way to keep them grounded no matter what happens.
The ability to remain calm and collected in situations where most other people aren't would be the biggest skill I’ve gained from this experience.
Q: Do you have any words of wisdom or little grains of knowledge that you've picked up over the years?
My biggest piece of advice, especially now that I'm a senior going into job searches, would be that you need to be open to everything. If a job opportunity comes up or if you get asked by a professor to go do something, you need to be open to it, because you never know what you'll learn from that experience.
And now that I'm offering my services up for jobs, they're looking at me and saying, ‘what can you give me?’ And if I would have just had it my way and done nothing but what I wanted to do, I would say I'm good at these one or two things. But now that I'm willing to listen to professors and people that have tried to help me along the way, it's much easier for these employers to look at me and say, ‘Oh, you don't just do one or two things really well. In addition to that, you can do three or four things as needed.’
Q: What did it feel like to have your “Playbook” package featured on ESPN+?
That was incredible. Like I said, I didn't know what I wanted to do specifically. When I signed up for ESPN+, I just wanted to be a part of live broadcasting.
And to see myself with an ESPN font on live television at halftime, it was so validating and rewarding, because it felt like the culmination of my four years here. I didn't know it was going to happen. But it felt like everything that I've done for ESPN+ has led up to me being on camera.
Not that I necessarily want to be on air. I'd love to be a camera operator for the rest of my life. That's what I want to do.That's my dream. But being able to see yourself on live television and having other people around you see you on national television—my mom's texting me. My friends are texting me. Everyone's on my phone saying, ‘Hey, I saw you on TV.’
I've been working in TV and on these broadcasts that you're seeing for four years. But now that you finally see my face, you know that I'm a part of this.
Q: Is there anything else you want to add?
I just want to say how thankful I am for Scott Barlett and Chris Osteen and the opportunity that they gave me by asking to have my package on ESPN+. I know that none of this would be possible without them trusting me and them putting their faith in me that I would turn in a good package.
Watch Callender’s “Mountain State Derby” segment on the “Mountaineer Playbook” YouTube channel.
The WVU Reed School of Media and Communications has a partnership with Big 12 Now on ESPN+ that allows students to report from the sidelines and provide technical support on game day for ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox FS1 and SkyCam Tech. Ostien has implemented a student workforce overseeing more than 40 student workers, while leading the training and development for all undergrad employees for ESPN+.
Additionally, the live broadcast capstone courses, including “Mountaineer Playbook,” “WVU News” and “WV Today” provide students the opportunity to operate in a real newsroom environment, serving as reporters, anchors, producers, videographers and digital content creators. These programs air on a variety of outlets, including West Virginia Public Broadcasting, KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and the City of Morgantown’s Public Access Channel, streaming on HD Media's website, on on-campus television stations, online at journalism.wvu.edu and on the @WVUReedSchool YouTube channel.