Cedric Walker: A Life of Arena Football

Cedric Walker is the Head Coach for the Billings Outlaws of Arena Football One. He has won an Arena Championship as a player, coordinator, and in 2024 as a Head Coach/General Manager. With over 20 years of Arena Football experience, he's ready to lead the Outlaws into their next chapter.

A CALLING TO DEFENSE

Cedric Walker grew up in Lufkin, Texas, where he starred in basketball and baseball as a kid. He was so good at basketball that he was offered a scholarship to the University of New Orleans. Football didn’t come into his life until the eighth grade.

However, once he was allowed to play football in his eighth-grade year, that’s where a young Cedric Walker fell in love with the game. He learned the hard parts early on, breaking a rib in his first season, that’s when his mom said, “No more football for you.” 

You’ll see the pattern in Coach Walker’s life where it could have been the end of his football days, but he just can’t stop going back to the game. Luckily for the game, even in eighth grade, he was hard-headed enough to answer that call to return to the game, and he continues to answer that call. 

After starting off at running back at running back at Lufkin High School, he was moved to defensive back for his Junior and Senior seasons. That turned out to be a great move by his coaches. To this day, Walker sits second place all-time for most interceptions in a single season in school history, with nine interceptions in 1988. 

A COLLEGE STAR

After entertaining offers from the likes of the Big XII’s Oklahoma, Walker decided to stay close to home and attend Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. 

He quickly became one of the most accomplished players to run through the Lumberjack program. Walker started in the second game of his career and never looked back. Starting every game throughout the rest of his four years. He was named first-team all-conference in four straight seasons and was a four-time All-American. He’s the all-time leader in career interceptions at the school and fourth all-time in NCAA history with 25 picks over his four years. 

FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE ARENA

After his stellar college career, Cedric went undrafted in the NFL Draft but was quickly picked up by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent. He spent the 1994 and 1995 seasons with the team before being released and trying out for the Don Shula-led Miami Dolphins. The team intended to sign Walker, but an injury to a defensive lineman derailed their plans as they had to fill his roster spot. 

Walker thought that was the end of his football career. He packed up and headed back to Texas, where he began to work for the Boys and Girls Club. But once again, football wasn’t done with him. He received a questionnaire and an invitation to camp. Coach said he remembers seeing the Arena game on ESPN and players hitting the walls and saying, “I’d never ever do that.” 

Walker went to camp with the Orlando Predators, where he broke his thumb and was released. He packed up and went back to Texas and the Boys and Girls Club. It wouldn’t take long before the Charlotte Rage would come calling, and Walker was right back at it. The Rage folded after 1996, and Walker was once again left without a team. 

THE MAN IN THE ARENA

That’s when Cedric found his new home in Arizona. He’d play for the Rattlers for four seasons, winning his first championship as a player in 1997. Over his 10 years as a player, Walker racked up 614 tackles, 84 pass breakups, 11 forced fumbles, 12 fumble recoveries and 23 interceptions. 

After retiring as a player in 2005, Coach Gary Compton of the Bakersfield Blitz gave Walker his first shot as a defensive coordinator. After one season as DC, the Everette Hawks brought him on as their Head Coach. He spent a season with Everette and a season with the Tri-Cites Fever, learning the ropes of being a first-time Head Coach. When Darren Arbet called Walker with an opportunity to be the defensive coordinator in San Jose for the SaberCats, he couldn’t turn down an opportunity to coach for “the greatest man to ever do it” Walker said. 

He’d win his first championship as a coach in 2015 with the SaberCats before the team went dormant, and Walker was certain this time was it. He went into real estate until 2018, when Omar Smith gave him a ring to join the Baltimore Brigade. Once again, Walker couldn’t turn down the chance to be in the game he loves and the team went to the championship game his first season. 

This time, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that pulled the coach away from the game for a few years. He got a call from the Spokane Shock, but the team didn’t survive before Walker even had a chance there, that’s when he truly considered hanging it up. Steven Titus lured him to coach the Wyoming Mustangs for two seasons, and then Titus had a chance to take the Billings Outlaws to Arena in 2024. He took Walker with him as the General Manager, Head Coach, and Defense Coordinator. 

HEAD MAN IN BILLINGS

The Outlaws went 7-1 in 2024 and won it all, avenging their single loss to the Albany Firebirds giving Walker his first championship as a Head Coach, and completing the player/coordinator/coach trifecta. He’s loved being able to experience it in all three aspects. “Being part of that 21 and doing your eighth of the job was an amazing feeling.” “As a coordinator and doing your third, taking care of your side of the ball”, “now if you think about it as a Head Coach, you’ve got to focus on everything, it’s a different feeling. You have to answer those tough questions when things aren’t right, you have to talk to the players when things aren’t going the right way, but it’s a lot more gratifying to win it as a Head Coach.” 

Coach Walker has taken to living and working in Billings year-round now. When I asked him what he thought of living in Billings, Coach Walker said, “I love it man, there’s some really great people here in Billings. It’s hella cold, and I’m not used to it. But I’ve met some great people here. We have great sponsors who have been Godsends and amazing fans.” 

Coaching in the Arena game is more than just X’s and O’s, Walker embraces the opportunity to do the business side of things as the general manager and says it makes his job easier as Head Coach. I found it interesting that after his short stint in the NFL as a player, the rest of Coach Walker’s 20+ playing and coaching years have all been in the Arena game. When I asked him what it was about Arena that he loved so much, his answer was simple. “It’s blue-collar” “to be able to play a game, then sign autographs right after, have kids come down and meet the guys, give these kids the vision of what they can do, I love it.” 

His days start at 3:30 in the morning during the season, watching film and preparing for the week. It usually doesn’t end until 1030 at night, and back at it the next day. During the off-season, he gives himself some grace and sleeps in until about 4:30 a.m. before the film study and player scouting starts as he assembles the 2025 Outlaws team. 

In his free time, Coach Walker's hobby is smoking cigars and golfing. He only gets a handful of days off during the year, but that’s what he enjoys doing and how he spends his “me time.” He did treat himself to a sunny cruise after claiming that championship last season. 

In 2025, Walker is “looking forward to proving people wrong.” Last year, they embraced the role of the underdog, their social media team keeping the receipts when the team wasn’t picked to be very good early in the season. The sentiment remains the same this year: people will doubt them, and they plan to rise above. His message to the fans “we’re going to do what we're supposed to do, we’re blue-collar it’s our team our town 1-0 each week.”